Orange Legion
by Omniwriter1234
Summary: When Naruto Uzumaki learned the Multiple Shadow Clones Technique from the Scroll of Seals, two paths laid before him. One was the path of a loyal Shinobi of Konohagakure and, eventually, the title of Hokage. The other path? That of a conqueror. He chooses the second. (Or the logical progression of a kid being able to create an army on demand)
1. Enter! The Orange Legion!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not really doing anything elaborate this time.

AN: Well, this is what one would call an ear worm. It was originally supposed to be crack but I cannot write crack. Enjoy the Orange Legion you've got instead.

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"So do all three of you understand the test?" Kakashi Hatake grinned down at the three Genin from beneath his mask but the way he allowed his eye to crinkle made it obvious he was smiling. By the way the three Genin looked at him nervously, some more than others, and how their eyes glanced to the bells suspended in the air he figured they did. "Alright then." He secured them at his waist and reached into one of the pockets on his vest. "You have until sunset." He would have laughed at their frightened expression as his hand reached in and drew out his book but chose not to. It was much harder than he thought when all three nearly fell on the ground from shock. "Begin when you feel you're ready. The test already started."

"Then let me show you the might of my forces!" Naruto Uzumaki stepped forward almost immediately and Kakashi considered it almost disappointing. He had wanted to see what the other two would do but the Uzumaki would probably be entertaining enough. He would beat him, throw him in the forest, and hunt for the rest of his potential teammates.

"Forces?" Sakura Haruno, the only civilian on the team, looked confused for a moment as Naruto stepped forward before she turned to Sasuke. "What is the idiot talking about Sa-"

It was as far as she got before she realized Sasuke was moving back with almost fear on his face, his black eyes turned red with two tomoe in each spinning around his pupil. His reaction was enough for Sakura to follow him. In part it was to protect herself from facing Kakashi alone or being drawn into the dead last's beating and in equal parts it was to get some time alone to speak with her crush on how they would manage to get the two bells and pass.

Naruto was naturally destined to fail.

"Prepare to bow before the might of my glorious legion!" Naruto's hands moved to a simple seal on the armor he wore on his wrist. "Suffer the fate of all enemies to my glorious empire!" Two things appeared in his hands then. One was a strange sword, a short one that was nothing like something Sakura had ever seen. It looked more like a large knife made to decorate a wall. In his other hand, actually strapped to his arm, was a large shield. It was massive, curved slightly and it was colored a simple, and bright, orange. Beneath a metal bump placed in the middle of the shield, was a red swirl.

"There's one of you." Kakashi felt he needed to make the obvious statement. He did not expect to hear laughter erupt from the potential Genin in front of him.

He also noted that the same potential Genin was now dressed differently. He was covered in armor of various shades of orange in addition to an orange cape hanging from his shoulders, attached there by two red swirls that acted as fasteners. Armor was placed on his arm, covered his chest and stomach with one piece and shoulders with another layer placed on top. The lower half of his legs was covered by metal armor but he kept his sandals on. Beneath the orange armor the Jonin noticed a black shirt or tunic that extended down past his waist and covered most of his exposed legs. From the waist down, strands of leather and metal formed a layer of protection that didn't impede the movement of his legs. It was the helmet he took note of the most, the same color as the armor and from it sprouted a solid black plume.

"You are foolish to not understand the glory that is my army!" Naruto placed his sword in a sheath at his side, something Kakashi just noticed and wanted to hit himself for missing such a detail, and drove the shield into the ground in front of him. The potential Genin crossed his fingers for the seal of a Jutsu the Jonin knew to be beyond most Shinobi who had earned the rank of Jonin. "Know it now Kakashi Hatake! Tremble and bow before the might of my glorious Orange Legion!"

"MULTIPLE SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

'Oh yeah.' Kakashi once again felt like hitting himself. He had forgotten the Uzumaki had learned the Kinjutsu from the Hokage…the old man was going a bit crazy in his old age to entrust such a dangerous techni-

Kakashi's brain temporarily stopped working as his eyes took in the scene.

Naruto stood before hundreds, if not a thousand, clones. All were similarly armed to him but he noticed that most of their armor was slightly less decorative and lacked the cape. The helmet of the summoned clones also lacked the plume and instead bore a red swirl on the forehead.

"Behold my glorious army! Behold the might of the Uzumaki Empire it shall bring forth! BEHOLD THE MIGHTY ORANGE LEGION!" As Naruto shouted out his words, he drew the shield up from the ground and returned the sword he wielded to his hand. All of the clones he had created followed his actions as he threw his hands out at his sides. "BEHOLD POWER!"

"So?" Kakashi decided to not let the Uzumaki throw him off his balance any more than he already had. He was a Jonin. The boy in front of him wasn't even a Genin no matter what he did or could do. Or how he could randomly make armor and weapons appear. Or how he had the ability to make hundreds of Shadow Clones all armed like he was. Or how he was currently barking orders and creating formations out of them.

"Legion on me!"

"HOO!"

Naruto raised his sword into the air with his order and immediately dozens of the waiting clones moved around him with a shout. They formed a solid line of steel with their shields held at the ready, ten closed across the distance. The formation stretched ten roars back with Naruto in the center. The hundreds of remaining clones marched around him, encircling the battlefield in a formation with their backs to the forest. A detachment of eighty or so clones already were marching into the forest with a clone dressed similarly to Naruto at the head. The Jonin also noted that they headed in the general direction Sasuke had fled with Sakura.

"Ready artillery!"

"HOO!"

His order was followed, the swords stabbed into the ground as instead each and every clone held their hand out and in a puff of smoke a spear appeared. Naruto was no different, his weapon was identical to those of the clones and appeared in an identical manner as Kakashi chose this moment to make some distance between him and Naruto's 'Orange Legion'.

"FIRE!"

"HOO!"

Approximately one hundred of the spears flew through the air and Kakashi made a note of the multiple explosive tags sailing behind each.

'I'm going to hate this test.'

"Where are we going!" Sakura chased after Sasuke as he seemed on a mad dash to escape the training ground.

"Away from that army!" Sasuke shouted back to her, actually responding at last as he came to a stop, resting against a tree as he allowed his breath to escape him in pants. "He's going to do something li-"

The battlefield they had fled from erupted after a shout.

"Like that." Sasuke finished his sentence and took note of their surroundings with his changed eyes. "He always does that first!"

"Wait, you've seen him use that technique? When?" It seemed like that was a bad question to ask as Sasuke's eyes turned alit with an inferno of uncontrollable fury. It was so intense that Sakura took a step back in blind panic from the object of her affection. Even then his eyes seemed to pierce through her soul and stare back at the Uzumaki who was battling a Jonin with an army.

"When he conquered the Uchiha district for no damn reason!"

FLASHBACK TO THE DAY THE ORANGE LEGION CONQUERED THE UCHIHA DISTRICT FOR 'NO DAMN REASON!'…

"What do you think you're doing near my house dobe?" He had noticed him the moment the blonde had stepped onto the streets. An instinctive nagging at the back of his mind to confront the dead last of the Academy before he could do anything to the empty place he called home. He wouldn't tolerate the blonde moron doing anything to damage the constant representation of his vengeance the entire district represented.

He was glad he had decided to stop him at the border of the district, not letting him get very far at all. The blonde hadn't moved past the border anyway so it wasn't like he needed to move from his spot on the wall. He must have wanted him to find him.

'If he challenges me to a costume contest I'm killing him.'

"Ah, Uchiha! You're just the man I wanted to see right now!" Naruto was dressed in ridiculous orange armor with an equally ridiculous helmet under his arm and cape over his shoulders. The other was currently holding onto the hilt of his sword at his waist. "I have an offer for you!" His smile was pure and held no disguised intentions and neither did his crystal clear blue eyes. "Surrender your land to the glorious Uzumaki Empire or face my Orange Legion in war! The strength of arms will show the victor where the strength of wits and words fail!"

The kid had snapped it seemed or was trying to be funny. Either way Sasuke snorted. It was the closest he would get to a laugh at the outright terrible joke he had just heard from the blonde. The idea of him breaking under the stress of being a failure was also amusing enough to warrant it. Maybe now he would finally learn to shut up and get out of his hair with his constant challenges. The sooner the better for the Uchiha.

"Get off my land dobe." Sasuke kicked off the wall he was leaning against as he crossed his arms over his chest. Coal black eyes looked into blue ones and, for some strange reason, he felt that something was off about the Uzumaki in front of him. "I don't feel like wasting time with you today. Now leave before I change my mind and use you for my target practice."

"I see you've made your choice." Naruto's eyes had hardened. They still screamed of their honest intentions through. He took a moment before he seemed to nod to himself and rose his hand off of his sword and up to chest level. "The Orange Legion is merciful so I will allow you the option to surrender until dawn."

"Get lost already." Shuriken filled one hand and coal black eyes glared at the Uzumaki before him. "I don't want to waste my shuriken on you."

"To the victor go the spoils then my friend." His index and middle finger were raised with his thumb tucked into his palm. Sasuke immediately recognized it as the Seal of Confrontation. "Prepare yourself for war my foe!"

He vanished in a swirl of leaves.

"Damn irritation." Sasuke put his hands in his pocket and made his way back to his house. He was intent to ignore the Uzumaki and his entire mad spiel from a few moments ago. "He's lucky I don't feel like throwing him off myself."

"LEGION!" Naruto's voice reached him from far off down the street and with an irritated sigh Sasuke turned around and froze at the sight behind him. It was as unbelievable as it was believable as he saw Naruto's 'Orange Legion' and realized something. He understood what he had felt was off with the Uzumaki when they had briefly talked.

His Chakra wasn't pouring out of him like always. It was almost muted and now he knew why.

Hundreds of identical blondes stood behind Naruto and the Uzumaki stood at the head of the entire army. His helmet was not yet on as his crystal clear blue eyes swept over the gathered soldiers of his 'Orange Legion' as he seemed to look for any flaws but a grin broke out over his face soon enough. He slammed his fist into the armor he wore on his chest, resting above his heart as the army moved on its feet, eager to begin the night's battle it seemed.

"PRESENT YOURSELVES FOR YOUR CENTURION!" Three clones dressed more like the original blonde marched out of the lines and stood in a solid row, spaced apart with their helmets under their arms. One had barked the order and the clones went ramrod straight. Sasuke noticed the clones that stood before Naruto each had a helmet with a different emblem in the swirl dotting the forehead. I, II, and III. The plume that sprouted from it was also bright red like the swirl symbol on their helmets.

Naruto's eyes looked over the three for a moment before his eyes changed and addressed the clones behind them.

"Before our grand Legion stands the waste of a once glorious and prosperous land!" Naruto's voice wasn't loud but carried over the entirety of the clones assembled before him. "Before us stands the land that was once great and civilized now turned to the dogs because of one savage who dared to call himself great once! What stands before us is the ruins he has created and the madness he drives to create in the world that belongs not to him but to me! You stand here as soldiers of my Orange Legion and soldiers of my glorious UZUMAKI EMPIRE!"

"HOO!" Shields were banged on the ground to produce a great noise.

"You stand here as a beacon of order, of civilization itself in these lands!"

"HOO!" The beating intensified.

'What the hell is going on?'

"While we are here WE are the Empire we all so proudly serve! We are a proud civilization! We are order! WE ARE UZUMAKI!"

"HOO!" It became nearly deafening to the Uchiha.

"PREPARE TO MARCH! ON YOUR CENTURION!"

"YES SIR!"

"READY YOUR ARMS!" The three unique clones, centurions Sasuke would guess from Naruto's brief speech, shouted out the order as one as they each placed on their helmets. Before they turned around they each did something identical to what Naruto had done. Bringing their fist up to their chest and striking their hearts. Naruto returned with the same before all four turned around, three to the army and one to the sole opponent standing against them.

"Pray for glory men!" Naruto rolled his neck as he drew up his shield and readied his sword.

"FORM RANKS!"

"HOO!" Shields were lifted and swords were drawn as one. The clones seamlessly began a synchronized step forward as Naruto was seamlessly placed at the head of the formation.

"This is insane." Sasuke decided not to stick around any longer. He vanished in a burst of leaves and went as far away as he could.

He had traps to arm.

The march was slow. Slow enough for him to grab everything he could and begin to lay out the traps on the rooftops, basics that he could use to hopefully stop the insane blonde before he reached the heart of the Uchiha district where he resided. It had been a great plan in terms of having an entire clan surrounding the head but it now became something else. The streets were designed with the idea in mind, funnel enemy forces stupid enough to take them to large blocky buildings before an ambush force could strike. A hammer and anvil strategy almost.

One building gave him oversight of the entire district and with it where he had planted numerous kunai and shuriken launchers, explosive tags, basic, and hastily assembled, wire traps, and anything else he could find in the past few hours.

Naruto's forces had stopped briefly to separate into four different groups, each roughly a hundred strong, with either one of the three clones he called a centurion or Naruto himself leading them. The four had conversed briefly with each other for an hour or so, maps laid out on a table several clones had grabbed as more rested around them. Their shields were implanted in the ground and another rested on top, a locking mechanism of some sort making a wall of shields. More clones had been busy, moving around what had to be a base camp of some kind and making use of idle time with drills or spars against one another.

Such a thing had helped Sasuke come to understand their combat style from where he used a telescope to spy on them. It involved heavy blows from the shield followed by a swing of the short sword before returning to the safety of the shield. It was brutal and could easily fall to fist when pushed or simple stomps to a downed opponent. At least individually that was the combat style. When together in groups of even two they moved together, shields held forward and swords held down but at the ready. He had seen them use spears, use arrows, and more from within different shield formations they assumed with little instruction beyond a shouted word.

'What the hell has gotten into him?' He had caught glimpses of Naruto thanks to small gaps in the shield wall and he was surprised at what he saw. The dead last and his clones were pouring over a map of the Uchiha district and more than once he saw them mark something but couldn't make out what. He also couldn't see much of their mouths to read their lips. He couldn't even if he wanted to, the blonde's intense expression and sheer focus would have kept him from doing much as he tried to puzzle over how the irritating prankster that was universally seen as an idiot could be so in command.

They had split up eventually. Two hundred or so moving back to spread out and encircle the Uchiha district, from what he could spot with his telescope, and another hundred remained at the base camp. Naruto seemed to want to personally march the last hundred into the heart of the Uchiha district.

Now the last Uchiha in Konoha waited for the inevitable assault with multiple boards covered in wire strings around him. They all tied back to his hastily put together traps to try and stop the army Naruto had created to attack the former home of his deceased clan. At the thought of Naruto Uzumaki of all people conquering the Uchiha district and making it in to whatever he wanted, Sasuke felt his blood boil.

The dead last wouldn't beat him.

"HALT!"

"HOO!"

The clones behind him immediately stopped, bringing their feet back as they stood behind their shields with swords at the ready. Several blue eyes cast a wary gaze over the numerous buildings around them. More than a few seemed almost nervous as they briefly shifted before a swift elbow or such from another clone stopped such actions. Naruto didn't move from where he stood in front of the army for several moments, focusing on something else it seemed, before he returned his sword to his side and waved his arm with two fingers raised on his hand. Immediately the first row of clones, ten in total, sprung out of the formation and the ranks immediately closed around the empty space.

"All of you go and scout ahead." Naruto's words were met with ten nods as the clones formed a row behind him. "Report back."

They were dismissed and raced down a nearby alley, splitting up into groups of two as they moved further and further down. Five pressed themselves against either side of two buildings when they reached the end and cautiously the front two peeked out, the other four holding swords at the ready behind them. Sasuke didn't see the need to attack scouts directly. His traps would be enough to take both them out the main army when they began to march again.

They triggered a wire trap the moment they stepped out the alley. They were torn to shreds in plumes of smoke. Naruto's reaction was immediate.

"READY ARTILLERY!"

"HOO!"

His order was followed as all swords were sheathed and his now less than a hundred clones held out their hands, a spear appearing in each of them. Naruto was with them as he seamlessly stepped back into the formation, his sword already at his side and spear now in hand.

"FIRE!"

They drew back and fired, spears pouring out in every direction.

Sasuke knew how things would turn out at the end of that light the moment he saw the explosive tags trailing each spear. He could only speak three words. Three words that perfectly summed up his situation.

"Fuck this bullshit."

END FLASHBACK TO THE DAY THE ORANGE LEGION CONQUERED THE UCHIHA DISTRICT FOR 'NO DAMN REASON!'…

FOR NOW!

"Uchiha!" Naruto's voice came from the forest then and Sasuke immediately shot upright, two kunai gripped in his hands and held at the ready despite Sakura never seeing him draw them. It was useless in the end as Naruto's clone army emerged all around them, letting out shouts as they banged their swords on their shields. It was almost deafening and made Sakura cover her ears to block out the sound of metal on metal. "There's no use running." Naruto's clone, the leader of the others it seemed, emerged last completely at ease. His sword was sheathed at his side and his shield was hardly raised for a fight. Moments later the shield itself was embedded into the ground and his helmet was taken off so they both could see the identical face Naruto had directed at them. "Praetor's glorious Orange Legion has you surrounded."

"What do you want then?" Sasuke didn't lower his kunai but it seemed like he understood what would happen if he attacked.

It would be a one-sided slaughter.

"Praetor Naruto wishes to have your assistance in this test." The centurion looked to Sakura next and his eyes softened as he bowed his head to her, fist placed on his armor over his heart. "I have also been given orders to escort Sakura-chan to safety with all of my might." His eyes returned to Sasuke and they returned to their past state. "You presence is demanded but your condition has been left up to your level of resistance."

"Sasuke-kun?" He wavered for a moment, the idea of resistance popping up but it seemed to deflate just as quickly. The kunai were returned to their place on his person and he gave a grudging nod. He knew he had no chance of winning against the force present.

"I'm glad you came to this decision." The centurion nodded to him before turning to the forest behind him. "DROP PILUM! PRESENT YOURSELVES TO SAKURA-CHAN!"

"HOO!"

Immediately, a dozen or so clones came marching out of the woods with smoke trailing into the air behind them. They each dropped to a knee in front of a growing confused Sakura and Sasuke took note of the differences each held from the other clones in their armor.

It was the same basic design but at the same time more elaborate, a pink motif of numerous sakura petals falling to the ground flowed up the tunics they wore underneath and the helmet of each held the same design. A sakura tree was in bloom and was in a hollow red lined circle, a dozen red swirls dotting the outside of it in equal intervals. The same could be said for the emblem on their shields and their sword blades carried the same pink design as their tunics on the sheath and hilts. The design seemed to even stretch forward onto the blade but Sasuke was unsure if his guess was correct.

"Allow me to introduce you to your personal escorts Sakura-chan." The clone returned his helmet to his head as he spoke and walked over to the dozen. "Praetor Naruto has gifted you a dozen Praetorians to use to your liking in this test!" The dozen clones rose to their feet as the centurion marched across their line. "They are yours to command with any order and will follow until death either on the battlefield or off it. Your life and will is all that matters to them."

"Praetor Naruto has given them the unique title of Blossom Guards." The centurion stepped to stand next to the shocked potential Genin and the Blossom Guards each stepped forward. "They await your orders."

"Why?" Sakura asked the only question that came to her mind as she saw the devotion in each pair of blue eyes locked on to her and only her.

"Praetor Naruto wishes that you are always protected. This is only a small part of the force you shall have command of. His Praetorians are at your service of course and more join the Blossom Guard every day." The centurion suddenly turned to Sasuke and as one the clones with him began to move from their encirclement into rows behind their leader. "Uchiha!" Sasuke found himself going ramrod straight, his Sharingan meeting the unmoving pools of blue of the centurion. "Praetor Naruto does not wish for you to march with us without proper armor! Neither am I allowed to leave without your presence among my troops!" Two clones came forward with a large chest carried between the two. "I have been asked by Praetor Naruto to ask of you a simple question!" The chest was placed on the ground by the two clones and their hands unlatched either side of it. "Are you prepared to join the Uzumaki Empire?" The centurion addressed him as the chest was opened and the unique armor inside was revealed.

Sasuke took a moment to stop and merely admire the armor in front of him. It wasn't black and orange like the rest of the armor the clones of Naruto's 'Orange Legion' wore or like Sakura's recently presented 'Blossom Guard'. It was different in the coloring but identical to another set.

"Why does it look like this?" It looked nearly identical to Naruto's own.

"Your actions on the battlefields of the past have shown you to be a worthy combatant and our observations have revealed you to have the qualities of a trusted ally as well." Respect entered the eyes of the centurion standing before them as he looked into Sasuke's Sharingan. "Praetor Naruto has informed all of his centurions you are to be presented with armor suiting your rank as Legate of the mighty and glorious Orange Legion."

"Legate?" Sakura almost seemed to taste the words as she spoke them, her question clear. Already her Blossom Guards had moved into place behind her, forming twin rows of six that loaned themselves well to the execution of many formations. They had practiced day in and day out for this moment and would not fail.

"Legate is the title of the second in command of the Orange Legion of the Uzumaki Empire." The centurion looked Sasuke in his eyes, his blue eyes clear in the message they held. "It is the highest rank one may hold in the Orange Legion, higher than any centurion and below only Praetor Naruto in authority." Steel filled his eyes, blue blades piercing red and black. "It is the highest honor any may receive in the Orange Legion as it shows the complete trust of Praetor Naruto in not only the capability of the one chosen but their loyalty as well."

"Why is he giving it to me then?" Sasuke asked the question Sakura wanted to know as well as confusion crossed both their faces in equal amount as the centurion looked to the chest once before responding.

"Praetor Naruto has shown himself to be an excellent judge of character and we of the Orange Legion will trust his judgement in you." The centurion gestured to the armor and immediately the two soldiers began to take it out and approach the Uchiha. "My century is ready to march and only await your command."

"Then…" Sasuke seemed to weigh his decision once again before he noticed something on the armor. "I accept."

"Then it's time to suit up."

"PILUM!" A voice called out over the battlefield and, launched from the assembled clones, a number of spears soared forward. "SUBSTITUTE!" Shields were planted into the ground just as quickly as swords were drawn and close to fifty clones joined the remaining airborne pilum. The remaining clones in the formation closed ranks and drew the substituted pilum from the ground and raised them into the air. "PILUM!"

All pilums were once again directed towards the silver hared Shinobi wielding two kunai in front of them. Rage burned in his eyes as the next wave arrived, screaming the war cry of the Orange Legion as they descended from the air with the thrown projectiles. Kakashi didn't care for how many attacked him, he only cared to cause them the same suffering they caused him after they had taken one of the only thing he loved from the world.

"Is this it?" Kakashi clashed with four of the clones at once, his twin kunai infused with Chakra and cutting through their swords with ease. More charged him but met the same fate as his kunai were too sharp with their enhanced cutting edge for their blades to match. They all retreated before he could finish them off as a centurion observed the battle for a moment before donning his helmet and turning to the clones watching the futile tactic they had unleashed to delay Kakashi. "You ruin my precious Icha Icha and this is all you can bring out! Try and get my blood pumping you little bastards!"

"DRAW SWORDS! FORM RANKS!"

"HOO!"

Like always, his orders were followed as shields embedded into the ground were drawn up along their arms and short swords were drawn from where they rested at their sides. The clones of the Orange Legion held no fear in this battle despite the odds so against them, the elements themselves risen up in opposition. It was nothing to the power of the Orange Legion to face this challenge no matter how revered Silver Fang was in the world. He was still a simple man and they held only the desire to see the Silver Fang bleed like all mortals must. More joined them as a centurion approached with reinforcements from the main camp, archers and the like assuming support positions behind the wall of shields of the main fighters.

"So you want glory after all then brother?" The two centurions briefly met, fist clenched over the heart covered by their armor. A grin was offered beneath the helmet of the centurion about to face the Silver Fang in battle.

"Is it not what we all wish for brother?" The centurion's blue eyes were not clouded with fear or anticipation as a solemn light shined from them. "We must all do our duty in the end and this is mine. If I attain glory then it will be all the better."

"Call for me and we will fire on the Fang." Both knew the duty of the other and departed, one returned to the reinforcements and began barking orders while the other rolled his shoulders as he approached his fellow clones. All were ready to do battle until the end.

The centurion easily stepped into the open ranks before they closed tight and banged on his shield with his sword before pointing forward.

"ON ME! FORWARD!"

"HOO!"

His orange cape was easy to follow as he led the latest charge against the Silver Fang they would fight until their last breath as the next wave of troops arrived and began to continue the encirclement. It was made somewhat difficult with the hounds he had shaped from the elements but it was still possible. The Orange Legion had suffered through worse and would triumph yet again against the might of the very elements themselves, they would become legends. The circle would hold and soon the Silver Fang would be defeated.

It was the truth because it had to be true. Their many sacrifices had to matter by the end of this day.

"SHIELDS!" Another gout of flames crashed against the steel of the Orange Legion as the hound of flames made an attempt to breach their shields with breath that gave birth to hellfire and failed. Its fireballs were worthless against the discipline of the Orange Legion and the centurion who held the line with them.

"ARCHERS!"

"HOO!"

The shields resting above them moved aside as bows were raised and arrows fitted to the string before a concentrated rain fired upon the hound of flames, forcing it to retreat yet again lest it face their bite. Again the shields reformed into a solid barrier between the clones and their foe and those at the front were embedded into the ground.

"PILUM!"

"HOO!"

Another wave of pilum soared through the air and came down towards Kakashi but it was stopped by a dome of stone that the spears could not pierce despite the numbers they were released in. It was only a distraction in the end regardless, more pilums were stabbed into the ground as the clones stepped aside and opened their ranks and quickly the pilum were substituted with. The ranks were closed and the once abandoned shields were returned to those they belonged to as the explosive tags wrapped around the shaft of each pilum burned.

"BRACE!"

"HOO!"

The words of the centurion were followed as the shields were simultaneously embedded in the ground and the clones each crouched behind it, sword sheathed at their side and hand over ears. It was done only moments before the blasts struck and the Silver Fang was concealed from sight.

"What's your status centurion?" Naruto was off the battlefield for now, retreated into the forest under an escort of his Praetorians despite his displeasure at such a tactic. The centurion he had left in charge, one of the three who had stormed the Uchiha district with him, was projected as an image across the table from him.

"The Silver Fang is powerful." The centurion didn't seem worried despite the nature of the battlefield Naruto could so easily see with his eyes from his tent. Smoke, mist, dirt, and lightning erupted into the air and gales blew through the trees. Many had already been stripped bare of leaves and he had given orders to turn them into firewood later. "His hounds continue to hamper our encirclement strategy but the longer we consistently engage him we have found that their power wanes. Soon he will not be able to summon them to him once they are weakened enough for capture. I intend to present them to you upon my return to camp Praetor." The promise of a trophy from the battle made Naruto's face change from grim to a grin.

"I look forward to it then centurion." The two mirrored each other as they placed their fists over their hearts. The image fizzled before fading and Naruto was left alone with only the Praetorians bordering his tent and a centurion as his company to see his sorrow.

"The Silver Fang has taken much from us this day and the sun has hardly risen." Naruto sighed as he stared down at the map before him, watching as large pieces of his army were annihilated by either the Silver Fang or the vicious dogs he created from the elements themselves. He himself had been wounded in the initial strike but the burns along both his arms were already mostly healed. "How much longer do we have until reinforcements from our Third Cohort arrive from the Uchiha district?"

"Hours from now." A Praetorian spoke up from near the entrance of the tent. "The centurions have each been delayed in their marching by several skirmishes across the fields they marched. The Third Cohort will not be arriving anytime soon."

"I see…" Naruto was silent as he took in the information. The First, Second, and Fourth were all that remained reachable now and the last two only remotely. Only the First was present in the battle and at half strength thanks to his side project, the Second was elsewhere on a campaign in hostile lands, and the Fourth continued the expedition he had sent it on merely days ago and they would have marched too long for him to call any of the large force back in time to matter in this battle. The others remained in training to his most recent knowledge. "I wished things had not gone so poorly when we have so few of the Orange Legion available to battle. What of the Sixth? The training is progressing adequately still?"

"The Fifth has hastened the training of the Sixth and both cohorts are dealing with the training of the Eighth now. The Seventh has been deemed ready to emerge and begin to serve the Orange Legion and await further command from you yourself, Praetor Naruto." That could work. He would sadly be absent from the battle for longer than he would wish but he could bring with him the forces that turned the tide in their favor if he could then reinforce the remains of the Third. He could either bring both forces with him upon his return to the battlefield or simply open up more battlefields than they were capable of handling at the moment.

"What of our Ninth Cohort? What is their status?" It was almost his last hope now. The Ninth, no matter how few, could reinforce the worst of the weak spots he could see now and were experienced enough to keep not only Silver Fang from catching on to his plan but he could send the Seventh to bring the remnants of the Third to him.

"The Ninth remains in a state of no contact. The Tenth has been pulled from their duty by many measures to continue searching for them but the odds are not in our favor now." The Praetorian's words made Naruto want to collapse into a chair but he tossed aside such a pointless thought.

Moping would get him nowhere.

"Dock our perimeter then." He hated he had to resort to this but he had no choice it seemed now. "Send all we can spare to reinforce our most heavy losses for now but coordinate our efforts from here."

"Praetor Naruto?" Shock traveled through the voices of his Praetorian at such an order. "Surely you don't mean to do such a thing."

"I do." Naruto would not argue with them and he couldn't even if he wanted to. "Bring up the centurion I sent to retrieve my second in command."

An image of the centurion he had sent into the forest stood in front of him within moments, saluting him with a fist over his heart before speaking.

"I am reporting as ordered Praetor Naruto. Legate is among us as well as Sakura-chan. We are marching with all haste to the main camp…" The centurion paused before he turned to the side for a moment before returning his full attention to the commander of the Orange Legion. "The Legate wishes to speak with you."

"Allow him." Naruto looked on intently at the map laid before him, his army's movements marked on it and he spotted the force still moving through the forest. The march back would of course be slow with the supplies he needed for the main camp from that sector. The sudden boom of thunder echoing across the sky made him briefly curl his hands into fist before he turned to the sole centurion in the tent with him. "Take your century and two others I'll call for. Reinforce those who hold back the storm. They've just lost more than half their forces to it and the Silver Fang will begin to hammer the men there once he flees the battle again."

"It will be done." His fist was held over his heart as he rose before the centurion drew his helmet up and hurried to assemble his troops. Reserves were in position already but they wouldn't hold for long if three centuries were being sent to reinforce them.

"Praetor." Sasuke's voice came with his image, Naruto focusing in on the Uchiha for a moment before a wide grin broke over his face.

"You're wearing the armor."

"I am."

"Then you are ready to engage the Silver Fang?"

"It seems you have a personal century already readied for me Praetor. It would be a shame to waste them."

"Good. My centurion can handle bringing his men back. Depart from them and return to base camp when I send the beacon into the air."

"I'll be there soon. I'll have my forces in shape faster and see how quick I bring him down." He paused for a moment before speaking again. "There's one question I have to ask before I head there, mind answering it?"

"Ask and you will be answered Legate."

"What about Sakura?"

"Her Blossom Guards will be responsible for protecting her."

"Fine then. Throw the beacon whenever you want."

The image fizzled and died and Naruto turned to the nearest Praetorian, the same who had informed him of the status of the Cohorts of his Orange Legion.

"Fire when you reach the center of camp." The order was simple and soon his victory would hinge on its success. The Praetorian left without a word and one stepped in from the ring outside to provide full protection to the Praetor inside the tent. He turned to the other side, meeting the blue eyes of two of his Praetorians. "Get my armor ready!" They left just as silently and once again two others stepped into the tent.

In a minute he smelled the burning of the beacon and a moment later he didn't just as a clamor ran through the camp.

"LEGATE AMONG US! PRESENT YOURSELVES!" He let a smile cross his face despite the harshness of the centurion responsible for his Praetorians. At times he could be a bit much. No other clone had devoted themselves so intently to the rules of the Orange Legion than he had and it showed.

"HOO!" He could tell the scene outside already from the clanging of steel on steel. His Orange Legion had risen as one and acknowledge Sasuke as not only one of them but the Legate. It was from his centurions all the way down.

Sasuke entered the tent in full armor and paused. He slowly raised his hand to his chest in a fist and came down on where his heart rested below the armor he had been gifted by the blonde at the table. Naruto did the same after a moment and a grin split his face.

"How does it feel to lead an army Sasuke?"

"I feel like it'll make things too easy for me now."

Despite how strange it was, the two had somehow become like lifelong friends. It was almost as if they had met before and now they had remembered each other. For all he had his clones for, for all his friends, his allies, Naruto Uzumaki only trusted Sasuke Uchiha to be his absolute second in command. It was a trust that he knew was so easily reciprocated despite how their relationship had been since the day they met. A grudging respect had been born since their first encounter and now it had changed into something else. Something more and deeper than either of them could ever fully understand. They just knew to trust the other despite appearances.

Maybe it was the power of spite? If anyone was going to be responsible for bringing down one of them it would be the other. No one else deserved it. Maybe it was the power of tragedy? One had grown up alone and unwanted and in turn grew desperate for attention while the other had suffered through the inverse. He had grown up surrounded by family until it had been ripped away and had been near obsessive in his desire to be left alone. They understood each other in ways others simply couldn't. Or maybe it was nothing but a gut feeling? Maybe both knew that the other had their back no matter the obstacle before them. It could be all three or none of them all. No matter what the reason for their relationship being as it was, it didn't change the indisputable facts. Sasuke Uchiha was Legate of the Orange Legion and Naruto Uzumaki was its Praetor. That wouldn't be changing for as long as either could help it.

"How does it feel to wear a uniform for once?"

The armor was something special. Naruto had it commissioned not long after the First Cohort had been created with the intention the same the entire time. He wanted Sasuke Uchiha to be his Legate and it showed. It was like his except the plates were a combination of various shades of blues. Beneath it the Uchiha wore a red tunic with a familiar red and white fan emblem at the end of not only each strap that reached down to cover his legs but across the armor. His blue cape was held in place by similar clasps to his own, once again the Uchiha uchiwa replacing the Uzumaki swirl. His helmet held a white plume where his held a crimson one. On Naruto's insistence, even the shield and sword had been customized. The shield bore the customary swirl but also the black and white uchiwa was placed within it and the sword was the same at the hilt, the same image of the Uzumaki swirl holding the Uchiha uchiwa within it.

"How does it feel to have an Uchiha in your army?"

"Just go get your century ready." Naruto turned back to the table and Sasuke turned to leave before he paused.

"Naruto."

"What?"

His Legate offered him a grin.

"Kakashi's a goner."

"I know."

Both carried identical grins as one left the tent and another awaited his armor to be delivered to him. It had been heavily damaged during his injury and a new set had to be retrieved from somewhere in the camp. It had taken time that he didn't like wasting just as the centurion in charge of his Praetorians entered the tent.

"Praetor Naruto." His fist was raised to his chest over his heart and Naruto returned the gesture from his clone.

"Centurion." Both let their hand fall back to their side as two Praetorians stepped into the tent with Naruto's armor held on a stand carried between them. It was a pristine set and already Naruto found he didn't like the aura it held. The richly crafted set looked like it belonged in a museum or on a display. Armor should be notched, dented, and more from when a warrior had taken to the battlefield in it.

"My armor." He could still be in some awe of the sheer quality of it through. Such a thing would never change. It was wonderfully crafted and Naruto knew how sturdy it truly was despite the pristine and near fragile look of it. He knew he would be dead if it didn't offer such great protection from Silver Fang's attack.

"CENTURION PRESENT!"

"HOO!"

Sasuke's arrival was marked with a shout and the sound of a hundred swords meeting a hundred shields. He looked across his small force when compared to the sheer might Naruto already commanded of the Orange Legion and couldn't help but allow a smile to cross his face. The centurion who had escorted him through the forest until he had seen the beacon had informed him of the various tactics they had been drilled in the use of and he fully intended to make good of such practice.

Kakashi wouldn't know what hit him once the Uchiha arrived.

* * *

AN: Strange thing about this story, I've written out a healthy amount of chapters. Have the first three.


	2. Kakashi vs Konoha?

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: See, what'd I say?

* * *

"How…how did you manage to do all _this_?" The training ground was, when described with a single world, obliterated. Craters marked its surface, fires still burned, parts of the forest were either burned, burning, or flooded, fissures dotted the surface of the ground, and the three posts in front of them stood in pristine condition. The Hokage took in the entirety of what was before him as the Jonin responsible for most of the mess merely shrugged his shoulders from where he sat crouched on top of one of the three undamaged posts. The elderly leader dimly noted that two empty bento boxes rested at the base of the post.

"You know how Genin can get Hokage-sama." Kakashi once again shrugged his shoulders. He was acting as if what he was seeing was acceptable. "They motivated me to show them a few things. I eventually decided to show them the results of hard work and control to motivate them a bit too much I guess." Once again, he shrugged his shoulders. "They passed the test through."

It was obvious from where light shined from the large tent erected not too far away from the Shinobi present. It was massive and shouts and laughter reached them all from it and the myriad of other smaller tents and smaller lights around it. It was impressive to see such a sight until Hiruzen's eyes settled on the decimation before him and he once again felt as if the world was gone. There would be so much paperwork for the mess that took place here today to keep him busy all week. Perhaps even two weeks.

"That doesn't excuse what's happened here Kakashi." Asuma for once wasn't smoking from where he stood next to his father. An entire contingent of ANBU and other Jonin seemed to be behind the two of them as well. None of them looked very excited to be present or seemed to have good intentions when it came to the occupants of the tents.

Those inside were the cause for the ruination of a tradition that had stood since the founding of the Academy and assignment of rookie Genin teams to the elite Jonin of Konohagakure.

"To be fair, it was a phenomenal showing of teamwork from everyone involved with the events of today." Kakashi had a very well developed danger sense, one born from years on the battlefield and even more in the black ops branch of the village in the ANBU. He had gone on missions vital to the village, faced countless challenges, overcome foe after foe deemed a threat, and had returned every time able to continue it for year after year. He understood danger in all its forms from the obvious to the hidden, from the perilous to the mortal, and what was avoidable and what had to be faced. Right now he understood he was in an unavoidable situation where the danger was an obvious thing but not anything greater than perilous. The danger was obvious after judging the Killing Intent engulfing him, an attempt to terrify him to no avail as he yawned instead. It was a perilous one, few things could be mortal to the Shinobi who had copied a thousand techniques. It was also something that had to be face if he didn't want to become trash.

The three Genin at the heart of it, more like one in truth, were now officially his comrades and he didn't abandon comrades.

"Those kids you were testing, at least one of them, caused more than a few problems for the rest of the village while you were going on your rampage." Asuma looked at Kakashi with eyes not only befitting the former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja but also the survivor of the brutal battle between the twelve that wiped out all but two. "He's gotta to pay for everything he ruined and don't think you can stop us Kakashi. You're good, one of the best Shinobi in Konoha, but we're all pretty pissed off right now."

"Over the Genin Tests getting interrupted?" Kakashi literally hand waved away the source of their anger and pointedly ignored the increase in Killing Intent directed at him. "You guys can't still be upset over something that happened more than an hour ago. If you are, you're just living in the past by this point." Kakashi's single eye roamed over the Jonin and ANBU gathered in front of him before settling on Asuma once more. "Besides, didn't you deal with it with your teams? I heard that most of them passed this year because of that. Let's not even start talking about the experience most of the kids got from fighting a bunch of shadow clones."

"That's not the point Kakashi." Hiruzen took his pipe from his lips and held out at his side. He came close to letting himself laugh at the acting skills of one of his most elite Jonin. "We both know exactly why we've all gathered here and, despite how much I wished it wasn't the case, Naruto-kun is the source of more discontent than usual." Hiruzen returned his pipe to his lips. "You have to know that I can't exactly let either you or Team 7 escape any punishments after what happened during all of Konoha's Genin Tests. All of them may have resulted in promoting the graduated Academy Students to the rank of full Genin but the spirit of the exams, the legacy the founder of Konohagakure left us to carry on year after year, was tarnished." The aged Hokage looked at Kakashi with eyes that had driven men and women to flee from the brutal battlefields he stepped foot on time and time again and found that it had no effect on the Jonin. "Those that are responsible for it must be held responsible and must be taught a lesson."

"I'm not so sure that should happen."

"What you want is irrelevant Hatake."

"Ah, but it does Hokage-sama." Kakashi remained on the pole but his form shifted. He was preparing himself to fight the Jonin and ANBU gathered in front of him. "The legacy of the Genin Tests you're all upset about may have been tarnished by the actions of a couple of Genin but the main idea, the spirit, of it remains where it always has. The idea of the team is greater than any individual remains strong no matter what happened today. Teamwork helped fix the mess my Genin caused because where an individual would fall the team stood tall. Realistically, not even the Jonin and ANBU you've got with you could have stopped all of those clones before they had attacked if that was their actual intentions. Their numbers were a bit too big, their tactics a bit too good, and the mind behind them a bit too devious. Those Genin, the same ones you're blaming me for passing the tests you set, showed just how well the Will of Fire has been passed down from one generation to the next. They could have run, they could have hid from battle, but they didn't because they had comrades they cared for. They had people to protect that made them stand and fight not alone but together as one. Genin came together and helped save the village from a threat just like Jonin came together stopped the very real threat of the Kyubi twelve years ago. We didn't have any casualties this time but the core principle is still the same. They didn't fight for themselves out there, they fought for their friends and family, they fought for Konoha, they fought for the next generation to be able to do the same." Kakashi one visible eye lazily looked into one of the Hokage's own. "Isn't that a pretty good lesson?"

"Your ability to spin anything to your favor still hasn't left you Kakashi." Asuma now desperately wished he had a cigarette judging from the way his hands rested on the pocket he kept a pack in. "You may be right but that doesn't change what happens or what's going to happen to the kid responsible for this mess in the first place."

"So I take it we all can't let things go?" Kakashi closed his own visible eye, wariness not coloring his voice or leaking into his body language. He was completely at ease despite the power of the force in front of him and the now assured path this confrontation would take. When his eye opened it held the emotionless graze that most ANBU eventually possessed during their tenure in the shadows. "I really think we should all reconsider what's about to happen and decide it's not worth the trouble it'll bring to anyone here." It was gone once he blinked. "Let's all just decide this day has been long enough already and let it go. No one's really hurt and there's no real reason to fight over it."

"My Eternal Rival is correct." One Shinobi had decided to deviate from the pack almost immediately upon their arrival to the ruined training ground and now stood with the legendary Shinobi. Maito Gai had a grin on his face and his teeth shining as he spoke in his normal exuberant manner. "This day has been both long and a joyous one despite what we all may think of it now. The Will of Fire truly burns bright and strong in all our new Shinobi. Be them big or small, they worked past their differences to face an unknown threat not alone but as a single unit." Suddenly his smile was gone and he was solemn. "Before we could only hope for such unity during times at war when comrades battled with one another on the battlefields we sent them to without pause. It was such a time where children marched into death and bloodshed without an end in sight and still refused to work together, refused to believe in the strength of the Will of Fire and paid the ultimate price for such a thing." The solemn air was gone as he smiled again and jerked his thumb towards the large tent in the distance. "But now Naruto Uzumaki has presented us a new chance to show our unity and the renewed strength of the Will of Fire we all take pride in. It is no longer an ember or a small flame but now a great blaze that reaches into the very heart of our forces and fills our minds and bodies with its message and strength. Such a thing should be seen as a worth the trade for several destroyed training grounds."

"Dad, let's quit tal-" Asuma would never actually get to finish what he was saying.

"MARCH ON YOUR CENTURION!"

"HOO!"

The sounds of steps striking the ground in unison reached them all then. It was entirely too convenient that just now they were beginning to move. It wasn't convenient at all in the end, Naruto was clearly visible as he stepped out of the large tent with his Praetorians falling into ranks behind him. The century of his Legate was next and the two marched side by side with each other. Behind them were the Blossom Guards, having swelled their numbers to a solid fifty now as they marched with Sakura at the head.

"HALT!"

"HOO!"

The army of two hundred of fifty came to a stop as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all continued with few accompanying them in an entourage. Several centurions as the units that had flanked them as quietly as possible emerged from the woods with shields and swords at the ready. Torches were lit to reveal the positions they had taken around the arguing Shinobi as the Genin of Team 7 stopped between the two opposing sides.

"Present our banners." Naruto was completely at ease, perhaps more than even Kakashi, as he looked over the gathered elite of Konoha's Shinobi forces. One hand was laid on his sword but it was more for the pose than anything that threatened violence.

Personalized shields fitted on shafts made of fallen trees were lifted into the air and staked into the ground. Only three of his banners were represented at the moment. The swirl of the Orange Legion, the uchiwa and swirl of the century of his Legate, and the pink blooming tree that was the symbol of the Blossom Guards. All three standards were presented but behind them towered the large banner that he had been busy with for several hours.

The symbol of the bloodied First Cohort: A pack of hounds, seemingly birthed by the world itself from the elements that composed them, howling into the air and with them stood the clones of the First Cohort holding their shields and swords at the ready without fear. Terror would flee before the hearts of those of the First Cohort and they would chase it down to slay it like they did the hounds of nature.

"I must admit, I never thought to make the acquaintance of so many revered guests so soon." Naruto stepped forward, a grin on his face as he looked at the gathered Jonin and ANBU behind the Hokage. He was at ease despite the Killing Intent flooding the world around him from the infuriated Jonin that he had made enemies of. "But proper introductions are a must and so I present to you all the glory of a small part of the mighty Orange Legion I command to the last man!" The clones moved, presenting their arms with a shout as Naruto gestured behind him. "Behold the core military of the great Uzumaki Empire headed by myself and one other!"

That seemed to be Sasuke's cue to step forward, a hand clasped over his head in a fist while his helmet rested under his free arm.

"I am the Legate of the Orange Legion." His words were short and direct. "I am second in command of the Orange Legion of the great Uzumaki Empire." There was nothing left to say for him it seemed, the Uchiha stepping back into line without further words.

"The lovely Sakura-chan stands before you as well." Naruto smiled towards the pinkette, dressed in red armor that seemed more stylized than either of the sets the other two wore. It was most likely because the other two were damaged from battle despite being freshly polished. Hers carried a similar style with her red and white battle dress on underneath. It was the greatest difference between the three sets of armor as hers was modeled with the dress she wore in mind. Additional plates of steel and ribbons of leather had seemingly been added at her shoulders, down her arms, and hung down her waist like all the others.

"Cut the nonsense Uzumaki." Asuma kept his hands in his pocket next to his father. "Don't bother with wasting our time. You know why we're here and you know what we're going to do."

"My scouts did inform me of your intentions some time ago." Naruto stepped forward yet again, standing two paces ahead of his Legate and the lovely Sakura-chan and his blue eyes hardened into the coldest ice any of them had ever seen. A shiver ran down the spines of more recent Jonin and even an experienced one felt the hairs on the back of their neck rise up. The air around them had simply become danger. Danger in a way they had experienced only briefly but would forever remember. It was a danger that was twelve years in the past but no less recent for those that had felt it in the air that night. "It didn't matter if they did so or not as I would know from the deaths you and your allies behind you have wrought on my glorious Orange Legion. Your attack on my Third Cohort created many complications for the Orange Legion. Our armor, our weapons, our supplies, our men, you made a mistake of delaying them all from assisting the First in the battle against the Silver Fang and his hounds. You prevented me from obtaining the greatest glory of my glorious Uzumaki Empire to date because you allowed a reckless fear to guide you. Your actions could have even led to defeat of my great Orange Legion if not for the actions of my Legate against Silver Fang."

Rage did not flow through his words, it was threaded like a needle through every letter. It stitched his words into sentences and the more he spoke the sharper the stiches became but never did they become sloppy, never did they become a rushed thing. It was precise above all else and all knew why. Fury was a thing better controlled, better used with a purpose in mind and the purpose of the Uzumaki before them was as clear as the cloudless sky.

"You could have cost my men the battle because of actions born of paranoia and fear. You could have created such a disgrace that the Uzumaki Empire would never stand at the heights it should unless I obliterated the entire village for the crimes against my Legion. You could have tarnished the Orange Legion before I even truly began my great campaigns and made me do things I would look back on in the future and still not regret. I would unleash the full might of my Legion upon the village that had caused such destruction to it and would show no mercy. Your lands would not be conquered in the name of the Uzumaki Empire as they would not be worthy. Such actions like the ones you have taken would have earned nothing less than a denial of ever having existed as my Orange Legion destroyed the past, present, and future of these lands without regret." The shield holding the mark of the First seemed to begin to shine with an unholy light. Fury seemed to imbue itself in the object as Naruto's frozen gaze moved across the Jonin as for many they felt fear from the most unlikely of sources. A simple Genin was able to drive the cold blade of fear deep into their hearts without issue it seemed. "The actions I would take against you are tame when compared to others. The crimes against my Legion you committed are not a thing I can ever allow to go unaddressed as it is now."

The air became thick. It could almost be choked on as the fury of Naruto Uzumaki was felt by all. His rage was the air for a moment, filled their lungs with the hate he held, made many consider running from the Genin before them. His will replaced all other facts, his will to destroy, to conquer, to obliterate his foes. It was felt by all those in attendance and it was a stifling thing.

"But I am not without mercy." The coldness was gone, his smile returned as a table was set up in front of him by several of his Praetorians. "Join me here at this table and together let us speak of the ills visited upon each other and let us remedy them with all haste. We do not need to be enemies more than we need to be the strongest of allies!" Naruto's smile was bright and wide as his blue eyes seemed to shine as if the sun itself had taken residence in the deep blue pools. "The tragedies of this day shall turn into the strongest of foundations for our bond of brotherhood the same as in the long ago past with the Uzumaki Clan. I see no reason for the Uzumaki Empire not to the same."

"I figured you would do something like this Naruto-kun." Hiruzen, despite the disaster the day had nearly become, couldn't help but chuckle as he walked forward and to the table. It wasn't as simple a thing as it looked to the untrained eye. Seals dotted the surface of it, basic ones but they came together to do several things. First, it was easy to carry. Second, it possessed tremendous durability. Third…the Professor had no idea what the last seal did. He only knew that he had never seen it but once long ago in his long life and was too young to remember what precisely it was used for. "You seem to be a natural at Fuinjutsu Naruto-kun."

"As my dream is to create the grandest of empires in the Uzumaki Empire, I must hold myself to certain standards Sarutobi-jiji." The aged Hokage rose an eyebrow at the change of address but from the grin on Naruto's face he knew he would receive no answer as both sat down. Kakashi had approached the table at a more sedate pace and slipped into the chair left for him.

Behind Naruto, his Legate stepped forward and stood there with his Praetorians fanning out to present themselves on what was quickly identified as Naruto's side of the table. Sasuke's century didn't move from its location but its formation changed as the Blossom Guards were absorbed into its center. The Uzumaki wasn't the only one who stood at the table with guards through, a group of four ANBU stood behind the Hokage as his shadow and Asuma stood at his shoulder. Gai seemed to have also joined Kakashi on his side of the table, grinning at his fellow Jonin for a moment before the talks would begin.

"We come together not as foes now my friends but as those wishing to see all ills remedied and the destruction born from conflict avoided." Naruto looked at both the Hokage and the legendary Shinobi that stood across from him. "We must not allow ourselves to fall into the trappings of vengeance. It will only lead to blindness from our true enemies." His blue eyed held something not many present had ever seen from Naruto Uzumaki. A type of intelligence that was frightening. "Believe me when I say that, despite the events of today, we are not foes and instead have the same enemies. The Uzumaki Empire does not stand against Konoha but forever with my homeland. It would be foolish to do battle with a place so precious to the heart of not only myself but to the hearts of all those in the Orange Legion."

"True enemies? What is this kid talking about?" Asuma spoke partly to himself and partly to Hiruzen but the aged Hokage provided answer enough as he slowly nodded. His lit pipe allowed him to release a string of smoke into the air as he considered the new information before him before deeming it time to speak again.

"Your scouts were very extensive it seems Naruto-kun." Hiruzen resisted the urge to ruffle the hair of the Genin in front of him. He was sure the clones that made up his Orange Legion would take offense to such a thing despite the good natured intentions of the old man. "This truly does change what I originally intended to do after having so many angry Jonin charge into my office with complaints about a blonde army marching through the village. I had originally intended to simply break down this mess and punish you for causing so much chaos but this completely changes my mind."

"So we're finished here already?" Kakashi looked to want to get this all over with quickly and he received a nod from the Hokage.

"I see no reason to interrupt matters anymore." He released another breath of smoke. "Team 7 has officially passed its test and become Genin, the village is undamaged, and the village has far more teams than usual this year thanks to an unforeseen event earlier today."

"Then we're done here." Kakashi turned to the Genin he would be teaching soon, Sakura having wandered over for the most part to stand next to Sasuke behind the Uzumaki. "Report here same time tomorrow and we'll start training. All three of you will pay for destroying my Icha Icha." His voice promised suffering for their past sin before he vanished in a burst of leaves and smoke.

"I shall depart to begin my night training!" Gai flashed another smile to Naruto but something was different about it. "The Green Beast of Konoha is eager to see your flames of youth burn brightly Naruto!" He only received a smirk from the Genin before he vanished in a burst of pure speed at such a level that no one saw the green blur leave the training grounds.

"This will be interesting to see." Hiruzen breathed out another stream of smoke with a grin on his face as he turned to the Uzumaki he knew was destined for great things. With or without the massive force he now had, Naruto would be great. "Have fun tomorrow Naruto-kun. With this I believe we must all depart to our duties."

"Before you go, I need to make you a promise Sarutobi-jiji." Naruto's answer brought on the continued presence of the now curious Hokage and he grinned as he pointed towards the hat resting on his head. Blue eyes shined with the same old determination that they had carried for years on end. The determination was the same through every trial and tribulation their owner faced. It was something that was so familiar that it made the old man smile despite his attempt not to. Those eyes held what his successor would need and every time he saw it a fire he did not know was dim grew brighter and more intense. The future would be a place like no other thing in the past or present because of the determination in those eyes. "I'm still going to take that hat off your head so keep it warm for me."

"I'll try to Naruto-kun." With his piece said, Hiruzen Sarutobi vanished just like Kakashi did. A moment later the gathered Jonin did the same despite how much some wished to simply charge the Genin responsible for the mess today had turned into. They withheld themselves because the Hokage had not taken action so they were not allowed to take action no matter what they wished. The fury any aggressor would face from the elderly Hokage was enough for any of them to all fall quickly into line.

"Well…that went well…right?"

Naruto grinned as he turned to look at the lovely Sakura-chan along with his Legate and gathered Praetorians. His eyes shined with the delight he must be feeling at a job well done.

"It went perfectly Sakura-chan. Absolutely perfectly."

* * *

AN: ONE MORE TO GO!


	3. The Escort Mission Begins!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: 3! 3! 3!

* * *

"Well this is impressive." Kakashi's words accurately summed up the thoughts of what everyone was feeling. Naruto's Orange Legion had made themselves useful once again and it wasn't in a battle. He had selected one of his centurions from the First Cohort to take several months of D-Rank missions from the Hokage every few days. With the required missions now off the hands of Team 7 for the day, both he and Sasuke sparred against each other within a circle of the Legion's centurions. It was a thing that had become customary in the weeks after team 7 had officially been formed. Every day the two battled one another in mock combat to sharpen their skills and quench their thirst for battle. The steel of their weapons had been replaced with wood to avoid killing and their shields were far less elaborate, once again being simple wood in the form of the defensive instrument. The Jonin considered the training enough for the physical portion the two needed and had left them to regularly fight each other. Chakra control and basic techniques like tree walking and water walking were given of course but neither had come close to mastering it yet. On the other hand, he sent Sakura off for a number of exercises based around Chakra control and stamina. His shadow clone should still be hounding her even now to keep her moving in the forest.

A half dozen more kept her Blossom Guard from interfering in the training.

"You're good Uchiha." Their practice spar reached another lull, both remaining in place behind their shields as they circled each other. "You're Sharingan has helped you learn the combat of the Orange Legion very quickly. Almost as quick as my centurions and I developed it."

"I've been called a prodigy at times." Sasuke spoke nothing else as his body darted forward.

Naruto's shield was raised, blocking the heavy blow from his own shield before both swung the wooden blade in place of the steel they used in true battle. Neither broke the guard of the other as they clashed but the point of the spar wasn't anything more than endurance by this point. Both had been striking and testing the strength of the other with the wooden weapons in their hands for close to two hours now and they remained dressed in full armor. Most of Naruto's centurions had cast off their helmets at the least as they watched the two commanders battle each other in another test of strength. The last Uchiha attempted to force Naruto off balance with a lunge led by his shield after he broke away but the Uzumaki was ready for it. He had seen the move's execution seemingly from their clash of blades as he was quick to place his shield in front of him and turn himself into a brace for the wood. The two shields met with a solid thud before both combatants pulled away, throwing their defense out to the side, and lunged forward with swords extended. Sasuke's blade struck against the side of Naruto's armor in what was a deflected blow but Naruto's was more critical. Sasuke's arm would have been severed if they were using true steel and both knew it as wood struck skin with a meaty thud. For now it would be a painful bruise by the end of the day to remind him of his inattentiveness.

He had been too focused on his own strike to counter Naruto's own.

"You're good but you are not the greatest Legate." Naruto chuckled as the two broke away for now, falling into a lull in practice as was common every hour or so. It was too refresh oneself from the mindset of battle and allow one to rest.

"Centurions, what news do you bring to me?" Naruto plunged the tip of his wooden blade into the ground and leaned his practice shield against it. No words came from any of the clones present for a moment before the leader of his Praetorians stepped forward with a scroll clutched in his hands.

"News from the Fourth's expedition has been brought to you immediately as requested Praetor." Naruto took the scroll and broke the seal with a nod, a somewhat hastily drawn swirl over the end of the paper, and his blue eyes read through the report quickly.

"I hope this is good news." Sasuke had taken to his role as second in command rather well, the Uchiha plunged his two weapons into the ground together and awaited an answer from the Uzumaki he had begun to follow since that day in the forest.

"It is." Naruto was grinning by the time he lowered the scroll and looked out towards his gathered centurions. "The expedition has been a resounding success and the Fourth Cohort will return within the month with trophies of their discoveries and tales of glory from hard won battles."

"I thought you sent the Second on a campaign, why was the Fourth fighting?" The Uchiha was met with laughter from not only Naruto but the centurions identical to the Uzumaki around him. All of them joined in as they found the same humor from his words it seemed. He ignored the idea of striking out and instead focused on getting an answer. "What made them fight on an expedition?"

"The Orange Legion does not march if not to battle Sasuke." Naruto's words provided half an answer and the Legate understood he wouldn't be able to get any more answers from the blonde any time soon. His words did give him something to mull over in private later through. "Our future glory is concealed by the mist of uncertainty but battle will always be awaiting us as our most constant companion. Glory may leave us for shame, shame may leave us for glory, the sweet taste of victory can so easily give way to the bitterness of defeat but through it all battle shall walk with us. Stride for stride the cruelty of battle will march with each and every one of the mighty Orange Legion."

"I suppose you're right Praetor." Sasuke shrugged his shoulders after considering his words, mulling over Naruto's short declaration before he walked over to where both had placed their weapons and drew up the two sheathed blades. "For now, let us prepare to march with our friend again." The hilt of his sword was extended to him and it was something Naruto gladly took.

"I like the way you think Legate." He turned to his awaiting centurions then. "Continue the drills! The First Cohort will not be so disappointing again as it was against the Silver Fang!"

"HOO!" The centurions answered with fist clenched over their chest, going ramrod straight before receiving a reply in similar from both Naruto and Sasuke.

"Dismissed." The Legate followed after Naruto, his Praetorians assembling around him as he marched towards his tent. He needed more information on the Fourth and the progress of their mission. It was information he could not gain simply by reading and definitely not something to have discussed out in the open.

Spies were everywhere. The Uzumaki Empire was not insurmountable as much as he would like to think the opposite. They could be infiltrated despite his best efforts to insure strict guidelines and parameters for all soldiers in the Orange Legion to follow. Spies could still infiltrate even the group he had created.

"Sasuke, how well did you century really do against Kakashi?" The question, once they had entered the tent and Praetorians spread out to encircle the outside of it, was asked and the sole Uchiha of the Orange Legion froze midstep. He was silent for too long. "Legate, how did you century combat Kakashi Hatake."

"We suffered thirty seven casualties once we had finished encircling him. What was left of my century was committed in full to combatting Kakashi to the best of our ability where we lost thirteen more. Sakura claimed the bells as planned once we had fully restrained him in the Net." His voice was emotionless as he reported his casualties to the leader of the Uzumaki Empire and its Orange Legion. "I replenished my man before we confronted the Hokage and Konoha Shinobi from reserve forces that had completed their training. The fallen fifty of my century were buried during the night we celebrated by myself and my century. I presented myself to you for the festivities after I had finished."

Silence greeted him.

"You're a capable commander then. Kakashi wiped out several centuries before that and killed several centurions before we finally managed to imprison him. I figured that your entire century would have been wiped out and I would have had to personally reinforce you with the entirety of my Praetorians. Most of my centurions would have lost more men than you did and not have succeeded." Naruto walked over to the table in the center of his tent as he spoke, tapping his fingers on it and a high pitched ringing went out from it for a moment. "In short, while not exemplary, you performed well against Silver Fang."

"…Thank you Praetor."

"Don't mention it." Naruto laid the scroll he had been delivered on the table and opened it once again. Now a hidden blue swirl began to glow. "Report."

The centurion he had left in charge of the entire expedition appeared in a fizzle and burst of static. His helmet was off and tucked under his free arm as his other was in use, pressed against his chest with his fist over his heart. He bowed his head briefly before he began to speak.

"The expedition has been an immense success Praetor Naruto. The Fourth suffered few casualties from our battle with that vile beast and we've received word from the Second as well. The campaign goes well and soon our two forces shall unite and begin the final push. The artifact you wished for us to gather is among the most trusted of my guard and shall be personally delivered to you by my most experienced century. I will order them to depart once our message is finished."

"Good." Naruto nodded to himself before he turned to Sasuke. "Present yourself Legate."

"Praetor Naruto." He nodded towards the leader of the Orange Legion and turned to the centurion. Blue eyes sharpened as they took in the appearance of the Uchiha before they minutely widened. He pressed his fist over his armored chest and the centurion automatically returned the gesture. "I am Sasuke Uchiha, Legate of the Orange Legion of the Uzumaki Empire."

"I am Centurion Uzumaki, commander of the Fourth Cohort of the Orange Legion of the Uzumaki Empire." The centurion responded automatically with his rank even if his eyes did not leave Sasuke's own for a moment longer before blue eyes met blue eyes. "Praetor Uzumaki, do you wish to speak with my fellow centurion who leads the Second Cohort?"

"That is part of the reason I am contacting you as I am." Naruto received a nod from the centurion as he stepped forward, his fingers drumming on a table and a bell sounded for a moment before another image appeared at the end of the table.

"Praetor Naruto." The centurion of the Second Cohort gave Naruto the customary greeting of the Uzumaki Empire with his fist over his armored chest before his eyes moved to the Uchiha who answered with the same motion. "This is the Legate of our legion I suppose?"

"You would be correct. I am Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke let his hand fall to his side as he turned his gaze to Naruto, the two centurion briefly meeting the eyes of the other before doing the same. "Praetor Naruto, what did you send the Second and Fourth after?"

"It was a joint venture for the most part." Naruto looked towards the map and it changed, a shimmering ripple moving across its entirety before the Second and Fourth Cohorts were displayed in full on it. "The Second's campaign was always designed to provide a clear path for the Fourth to advance as I intended. The Second moved through more hostile lands than I originally thought they would face and were delayed more severely than any of us considered when we planned. If they had not moved through such brutal resistance when they did I would have gathered what was left of the Third and summoned the Seventh to begin a new advancement to reinforce them with all haste. Luckily it did not go that far. The Second triumphed and tasted glory as we all should have known they would, just like we should have never doubted our First Cohort against the Silver Fang and his hounds. The Second Cohort advanced and the Fourth Cohort, as planned, advanced behind it by several days. They eventually fully split from the path and came to where I needed them to be above all else."

"Uzushiogakure." Sasuke noticed the placement of the Fourth Cohort and where the Second was not too far away from. "It was your goal the entire time. Bandits had overrun the region decades ago so you sent the Second on an extermination campaign. The Fourth's expedition was entirely devoted to arriving at Uzushiogakure through what small resistance remained once the bandit clans realized a military was beginning to move on the region."

"You caught on rather quick Legate." Naruto motioned for him to step fully up to the table as he pointed down to where the Fourth Cohort remained encamped. "The entirety of the Fourth Cohort, and soon the Second, now lay in place. The heartland of the Uzumaki Empire will be reborn and with it will come the call to arms of the full might of the Orange Legion. I will call out the Fifth, the Sixth, the Seventh, and the Eighth to do battle with my enemies with the might of the Uzumaki Empire standing with me. Each Cohort shall begin a campaign with their full strength at last and my Empire will be so vast that not even the sun may ever be blind to its glory. I will control the land from sea to sea, from field to field, across the peaks every mountain, hold the land through all valleys, not even a single river shall not be mine as all shall know the might of the Uzumaki and rejoice and tremble at the terrible power of my Empire!" A grinned stretched over his face as his blue eyes envisioned the future as he stared at the map. "Soon all shall know the power I possess and the glory of the Uzumaki will be restored."

"It must be obvious but inform me of what I must do to play my part." Sasuke stood with Naruto as his eyes traveled over the map. Almost immediately the entirety of the Orange Legion was revealed, the vast encampments of the Fourth and Second Cohorts near Uzushiogakure and the First and Third Cohorts lying in wait for the inevitable conquests their leader spoke of within the village and outlying lands of Hi no Kuni.

"I will be giving you command of the Third Cohort in the future. The ceremony will most likely take place within the next few months in Uzushiogakure once the Fourth and the Second finish repairs. In the meantime, I'll be putting you in charge of recruitment and revitalization. The Third was nearly shattered thanks to the Jonin tests the centurions marched them through and it will be your responsibility to repair that damage. I'll keep hold of the First and we'll go from there when the Third is at full strength."

"The Ninth and the Tenth? When will you revitalize them?"

"The Tenth will remain in pursuit of the Ninth as I have ordered them." The tone the Praetor took made it obvious to all three who heard that the topic was to be dropped.

It was.

"I will look into the Third and begin meeting with the centurions in command. The better I know them, the better I will be able to lead the Cohort in its entirety."

"Then you are dismissed at your leisure. I will remain here for now with the leaders of the Second and Fourth and finish planning. Inform the First to continue drills as instructed earlier." Naruto's blue eyes did not leave the map and the near rabid eagerness his speech had brought would not abate anytime soon. It was the correct decision for Sasuke to leave his presence.

"As you wish Praetor." The Legate left the tent with his fist once again over his heart.

"Do you truly trust him Praetor Naruto, trust him above all other centurions loyal to our dying breath to the Orange Legion?" The centurion of the Fourth Cohort finally answered the question that had bothered him the entire conversation. "Where has he proved his loyalty to you?"

"He has not." Naruto chuckled to himself at the thought. "I have his allegiance through. I know his drive and I know what his passion truly is. He will remain loyal because I provide the tools for him to achieve his goals when no one else could or wished to."

"And what is that?" The Fourth Cohort centurion once again asked the question that bothered not only him but the centurion leading the Second Cohort as well. Neither had taken the news well and they knew the centurions of the other Cohorts would not respond in any positive way at all. The Tenth may even openly rebel with their history. There was a reason they remained in a pursuit many viewed as a pointless race towards an early demise.

"Tactics. Strategy. Intelligence." Naruto held a finger up for each word. "I have given him access to each of these three and one other, the greatest of them all." His eyes were alit with the same rabid light from before as a fourth finger was raised. "Experience. None are useful if he does not know how to truly use them and he understands that. The only way to understand tactics is to deploy strategies and both will test his intelligence in numerous ways. All three will only be sharpened into the true blade they can become through experience."

"Clever. He is not in the debt of the Legion but cannot accomplish his goal without them." The centurion from the Second Cohort nodded along to Naruto's plan before he turned to the centurion in command of the Fourth. "Speaking of intelligence, my scouts should be arriving to report to you within the next hour. I sent one of my more trustworthy centurions with them to organize a force to escort the century bearing the burden of the artifact Praetor requested of us. He will require some of your best."

"He will have my best then. They are ready for the slaughter we will unleash on this bandit filth." The centurion of the Fourth Cohort seemed eager at the thought. "Perhaps I will join them myself, lead a separate force to further confuse any watching bandit trash. A raiding party can be assembled quickly and my scouts have reported several bases nearby."

"Do NOT risk the artifact." Naruto spoke his piece with authority in his voice, the blonde's eyes holding the power that commanded the Orange Legion's might to his will without question. "If it is not delivered safely to Uzushiogakure then I will appoint two new centurions for both of your Cohorts. Am I understood?"

"Your will is our will Praetor." Both answered together, bowing their heads as a fist was brought up to their armored heart. "The Legion's name shall not be tarnished as long as we draw breath."

"Good. You are dismissed." Naruto tapped the table after both looked at him with stone cold blue eyes. He smiled to himself at his plan coming along so nicely before his attention changed to the map once again. A tap to it brightened the century carrying the artifact that was so precious to the Uzumaki Empire.

"Soon you will be returned to your rightful place." He could almost touch it. He knew it was near lunacy but somehow he knew he could touch it simply by caressing the light that represented it. "Soon you will be returned and give birth to the Uzumaki Empire."

He stepped away from his map and focused his mind in the present.

Eight days passed without issue. On the ninth things were changed.

"Team 7 is here and reporting for C-Rank mission assignment Hokage-sama." Kakashi stood with his arms crossed behind his back, the three armored Genin standing behind him. Sasuke and Naruto had forgone their shields but carried their swords at their sides. Sakura's armor, while still of a clear difference between the armor of the other two present, seemed more fitting of a warrior now. She had begun intense training with the members of her Blossom Guard.

"Good. I have a rather simple one for Team 7." The Hokage turned to one of the Chunin standing near a door. "Bring in Tazuna."

Introductions did not go well.

"Allow me the honor to execute this drunk Praetor!" Sasuke drew his sword from his side, the blade pointed upwards towards where Tazuna's now frantically beating heart resided. "He dares to insult the Legion."

"Don't." Naruto's blue eyes drilled into Tazuna. The drunk made an attempt to not even meet the eyes of the blonde but regardless the man felt violated at a spiritual level. His voice was calm as he spoke but a blizzard swirled beneath the blue of his eyes and it was filled with the howling winds of rage and the brutal rage of hail. "He is a client of the village. He will be protected by my Legion at all times." His hands did not rest at the blade at his side as his eyes bored into Tazuna's despite the height difference. "Allow him to live knowing those he so callously insulted will do what he cannot."

"Of course Praetor." Sasuke's sword returned to his side without another word even if it seemed like he did not fully agree with the leader of the Orange Legion.

"What's going on Kakashi-sensei?"

"You'll know when you're older Sakura."

Introductions had begun poorly but they somehow worsened by the time Team 7 would leave the building. None of them looked forward to the mission with the old drunk.

Hours later, Naruto stood before the clones of the still weakened Third Cohort and the laboring First Cohort.

"The First will remain here. You are not move the soldiers within it from the village unless I explicitly order for reinforcements or send word to do so. You will be under the command of the Praefectus Castrorum of my Praetorians and I expect you to follow all of his orders as if they were mine." The clone in question, the Praefectus Castrorum of the Praetorians, stepped forward, his helmet off and underneath his arm. "He will make sure training and the like continues. The construction of our more advanced equipment will remain on schedule as well." Blue eyes locked with those of the Praefectus Castrorum. "All of our projects will remain on time as well, correct?" He received a wordless nod before he continued.

"The Second and Fourth are still outside the village as I have explained to you all and the Legate of our mighty legion. They will remain in Uzushiogakure until such a time is reached that we can further reinforce them. The Second will continue to campaign against the organized bandits of the land and soon they will all fall against our steel." Nods followed his words from each centurion present, glee filling their blue eyes at the thought of such vermin destroyed. Crushed beneath their heel and left to rot in the inescapable place all trash like them deserved. "You all must be curious about the others of the Orange Legion but don't worry about not being informed. The Orange legion is strong when we all know the goal and know the plan that will lead us to it."

"The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth will remain as reserves in full and only be called out if the situation turns drastic. If it does so then I shall give full authorization to draw out all four Cohorts. The Ninth, as we all know, remains unknown in their condition, and the Tenth remains where they need to be." Naruto's eyes traveled around the large building the Orange Legion's centurions had met in. The centurions of the Second and Fourth Cohorts watched on as hazy images off to the side, their centurions present with them as ordered but not visible. All were subject to the blue stones that were the eyes of their leader. They knew the full burden of the Uzumaki Empire rested on his shoulders, a heavy burden he had taken on willingly because of his faith in the Orange Legion.

They would not disappoint.

"The Legate and I will be leading the remains of Third Cohort onward to Nami no Kuni with the bridge builder." His words did not bring argument with them but the air of the building changed. Word had spread quickly through the Orange Legion of the drunk their Praetor would be protecting. Such scum did not deserve to even breathe the same air as their glorious leader. None deserved the Praetor's life laid down in favor of saving their own. The Uzumaki Empire would obtain greatness only with a leader like him. "We need time to prepare with the centurions of the Third so this will be the last subject of the meeting."

Naruto didn't continue.

"I'll keep this brief as we all would like." Sasuke stepped forward and laid his helmet on the table before him. The two tomoe red eyes slowly looked over the centurions gathered before him. "My century will be visible at all times as I and Praetor Naruto agreed with upon learning of our mission. The rest of the Third will be sent in advance, leaving tonight, to march to our destination through different routes, or held in reserve. Proper communication and swift updates is vital between the centurions of the Third so we'll be making use of a supply of wireless communicators. Each centurion will be presented one to remain in contact with the others. You'll all be specified a channel along with the main one we'll be making use of during the march. Similar communication devices have already been handed out to the centurions in charge of the Second and Fourth Cohorts. They've been responsible for testing it for use by the entire army."

"We've made good use of them with our scouts and relaying the location of the trash we fight. Most of the time the filthy bandits don't even know we're about to wipe them out until half of them our dead and the other half dying from our attack." The centurion at the head of the Second Cohort tapped his ear, a black wire leading from it down into his armor. "No modifications were needed for our helmets either."

"The communication devices will be distributed tonight by the soldiers of my century." Sasuke seemed to have finished all he needed to say, the Legate of the Orange Legion stepping back as Naruto stepped forward yet again.

"That's all for this meeting." His eyes once again cast their gaze over all those inside the building. "The Third Cohort is to prepare to march tonight! The rest of you continue may continue what you've always done! Do not bring dishonor to my Legion in my brief absence!"

"HOO!" The centurions answered as one, bringing a fist up to their chest over their hearts before turning and filing out of the building.

Soon only the Praetor and his Legate stood in the emptied building.

"That didn't go as bad as I thought." Sasuke rested a hand on the blade he wore at his side as he and Naruto stood side by side in front of the table.

"They don't know what he said."

"Good point."

The Legate of the Orange Legion reached underneath the table and drew out a map of Nami no Kuni and laid it out on the table. A glance revealed it was heavily marked already with numerous numbered orange trails leading from Konoha to various sights. Several lead from different parts of Hi no Kuni and seemed to pulse with a deep light even know.

"I briefed parts of the Third Cohort on your plan before the meeting. Some of the Legion's more experienced centuries have already begun the march to Nami no Kuni. They'll be there before we set out at the pace they set and will be responsible for setting up a main camp for us. They won't advance further than that through, mainly just out to the surrounding lands and secure supply routes with patrols." Red eyes met blue once they looked up from the map. "I delivered your orders exactly Praetor."

"Good." Naruto leaned forward on the table, his blue eyes leaving Sasuke's to look on with joy at the sight of the pulsing orange lines. "This is exactly what the Third needs after what happened during the Bell Test with Silver Fang." The cold stone of his eyes had bled away long ago but now something else entered them. Remorse at what he had done. "My order that day haunts me still. So much of the Third lost because I couldn't handle the pressure. I feel like a fool more and more as I return to the battle that day."

"The Third has suffered but it will endure. They are my soldiers now and none will fall to the tragedy of that day."

Both knew what the second in command spoke of. It was said in private among the other Cohorts of the Orange Legion, the Decimation of the Third. Countless centurions lost, centuries suffering heavy casualties across the board, and the slaying of the Third's head centurion. Leadership was still in chaos, many experienced soldiers having been moved around to try and find the balance between the experienced and the new recruits they now had to deal with as an attempt was made to mitigate the worst of the damage. Rumors had abounded for hours, until their arrival that night, which spoke of the Third having been entirely wiped out and their standard destroyed. Both had been false but one had nearly become true if not for the bravery of three centurions. They had returned to the battlefield with hardly thirty men between them and retrieved the still standing standard, held aloft by the head centurion before he had perished from many wounds.

The Decimation of the Third would live in infamy among the ranks of the Orange Legion for a very long time. It was a tale of both crushing defeat and of great glory. Triumph and sacrifice. Loss and gain to a brutal degree.

"I hope you aren't lying."

"Uchiha don't bother with a thing like that, we have more pride in our word than any other clan." The eyes that thousands had wielded before him seemed to take on something else as he looked down at the map. Power came from them that made Naruto grin. "If we swear to do something, we will do it and I intend to hold myself to that."

"Don't disappoint me Legate."

"I won't Praetor."

The night passed in a conference of strategy, dawn far away when several centuries of the Third marched out from the village in near silence. It had been practiced, a more covert marching of parts of the Orange Legion in order to catch enemies unaware. Now it was put to work.

"You know your orders. The rest of the Third will be counting on you. Your Praetor will be counting on you. Do not fail." The voice of their Legate, his status as the leader of the Third known to the clones that made it up, crackled in the ears of the centurions.

"We will not." They spoke quietly but as one. They marched individually but their steps fell together. They breathed as one. Hundreds of hearts beat as one. A conviction like no other burned within the eyes of them all as sapphire flames that would burn and destroy all before them. They were Legion.

All of them had made a silent promise. They would never fail again.

"I still can't believe a bunch of kids are going to be responsible for protecting me!" Tazuna had seemingly taken many doses of liquid courage the last night judging by the way he hardly stood properly or could remove one hand from his head. He leaned against the wall because it was his only support thanks to unwilling legs. "I should be getting at least some teenagers, maybe some of that eye candy you've got around here! The real women that aren't afraid to show what they got!" The way his hands moved to his chest, as if holding large balls in front of him, made the entirety of Team 7 sigh.

'This is going to be a long mission.' The four members of Team 7 were in unison in that moment.

"I've gotta to deal with you kids! Kids! Don't you know who I am! I'm the man who's going to build the bridge that's going to save Nami no Kuni! I'm the greatest bridge builder to ever live and I'm stuck with some kids to guard me on my way back! HAHAHAHA!" The man finally nearly fell onto his back in a drunken fit of laughter. He was only saved by Kakashi grabbing hold of the back of his pack, appearing behind the man silently to do so. Distaste filled his eyes for the briefest moment before it was gone and he patted Tazuna on the shoulder as he sat him back down.

"Naruto…how far away are your clones from the village now?"

"YOUR CENTURION IS PRESENT!"

"HOO!"

"Not far." Naruto allowed himself a moment to grin to himself at the sight of what happened next.

Tazuna really did fall on his ass this time, his drunken stupor suddenly gone as the group of five was surrounded on all sides by blondes identical to the blonde standing in front of him. The Genin of Team 7 didn't even bother sparing him a glance as one stepped forward.

"Centurion." Sasuke let his fist fall over his heart as his Sharingan met the blue eyes of the clone in charge of his century for the most part.

"Legate." The centurion answered in turn before he reached to his side and held something out to Sasuke. "Praetor informed you of what this is, correct?"

"He did." Sasuke didn't bother taking the object. "It belongs to you still."

"Understood." His hand was withdrawn and the object was returned to his side.

"Sakura, your Blossom Guards?"

"All of them are nearby. I spread them out since you told me about the century you were bringing with us."

"Then we may depart at our leisure." Naruto looked to Kakashi, the Jonin going over the blonde with his single visible critical eye. He 'hmm'-ed to himself for a moment as something was revealed in his analysis that only he could see before he turned towards Tazuna.

"Get up." The bridge builder hastily complied. The man who had been a soldier in war as a child spoke and the civilian listened without question. "Naruto, half of your men should keep an eye on him at all times. The other half are those you may do as you please with. That's my only order for this mission outside combat."

"You don't have to worry about that Silver Fang since my Legate will be responsible for leading the man's defense if we are to come under attack by anything from bandits to rogue Shinobi. He understands the risk and knows what to do with his men to keep the drunk safe."

"I'm glad for the vote of confidence Praetor." Sasuke turned his attention back to his men. "Ten at minimum are to maintain a perimeter around the bridge builder. The rest of you fan out around the rest of us and march in a perimeter."

"HOO!"

The march to Nami no Kuni was cut short hardly a day into it.

"HALT!" Sasuke stood at the front of his century, a single arm raised to bring them all to a halt with a tremendous clang as their shields were lowered and their armored feet came together. "First Conturbernium, on me!" Sasuke drew his sword as he began to slowly walked forward, the two first rows of five following him. They slowly spread out, forming a V with the Uchiha at the head and five of the clones under his command standing behind each other on either side. They began a slow jog down the path ahead of them.

"Centurion, where is the Legate taking the First?" The centurion stood at the head of the column with the remaining clones with him. Shields were embedded into the ground around them and more than one sword was grasped at the hilt, the clones of the Third uneasy as they restrained themselves from holding their weapons at the ready.

"He told me he discovered something further down the road with his Sharingan." The centurion spoke no more just as the sounds of combat reached them all. Immediately weapons were drawn and shields were wrenched out of the ground and held at the ready as many clones on the sides of the formation turned. They formed a wall that engulfed the formation as others stood at the ready to engage whatever assault from any side.

"Second! Advance on me! Third, stay at the ready for my signal! The rest of you defend this road to the last!" The centurion at the head of the Third was already moving, taking off at a run as he placed his helmet on his head and drew his sword.

"HOO!"

The clones of the Orange Legion came upon the sight of the Legate of the army standing above two restrained man. The Net, a number of Chakra reinforced pilum crossed across each other to entrap limbs and bodies, keeping them from moving at all in addition to the soldiers that stood with swords drawn. The centurion recognized them as the Demon Brothers, Missing-nin from Kiri that had been employed by only one man since going rogue.

"Zabuza Momoichi." Sasuke nodded to the centurion's observation as he returned his sword to his side and retrieved his scratched shield from where it laid on top of a chain of shuriken.

"Inform Praetor Naruto of this development."

"You heard him!"

"HOO!" Several of the clones raced off to inform Naruto of the news as Sasuke and the centurion observed the barely conscious Missing-nin.

"What should we do with them?"

"Wait for Praetor's orders." Sasuke moved back to a tree out of the way, leaning his back against it as his red and black eyes roved over the trees that stood nearby. He was searching for someone or something and the specifics of what was lost on the centurion with him. "He will know what is best to do."

The clones under Sasuke's command had finally lit the beacon from the burning smell that reached his nose. It was at last thrown high into the air and almost instantly it was replaced. Shouts reached them as more were thrown and they vanished just the same. Praetor and his Praetorians had at last arrived it seemed.

"Praetor." The centurion, the clones with him, and Sasuke himself all offered the salute of the Orange Legion to Naruto and his Praetorians as they emerged from the trees around them.

"Legate. Centurion." Naruto and his guards offered the same as he wordlessly dismissed all but one to the perimeter with a wave of his hand.

"I trust you've gotten my report."

"Yes. It seems this is more of a challenge than I originally thought." Naruto stood with his Legate next to him as he observed the captured Demon Brothers. His eyes stayed locked on them but his mind drifted to countless new strategies to do battle with such a foe with. "Zabuza Momoichi is no laughing matter. He will be a great challenge for the Third to overcome on this path."

"I will send word to the centurions you sent ahead Praetor. They will need to be informed of this development." The Legate of the Orange Legion stepped away at that, leaving the Praetor to his thoughts as more than enough of his century was left behind just in case the Demon Brothers had aid. Scouts would need to learn to be more thorough if that was the case.

"Hmm, I feel strangely left out." Kakashi stood with his hands in his pockets in a tree, his sole visible eye focused on the Genin before him. The man who had copied over a thousand techniques, risen through the ranks through tragedy during a time of war, and become a near legend on the battlefields he roamed looked on at the Genin that had motivated him to begin training much harder than he ever had in a long time after his performance in the Bell Test. He felt almost ashamed at how far he had allowed himself to fall during a time of peace, during his personal descent into despair. "You should have called me over as well Naruto."

"This is a mission of the Orange Legion Hatake-san." Naruto did not look away from the Demon Brothers nor did he raise his voice much. "It is to be either our glory or our shame. None else should face the trials ahead of us besides my men."

"Hmm, you really don't understand teamwork too well do you, Naruto?" Kakashi didn't move from the tree as he sensed more than a dozen or so of the clones surround the tree and arm themselves with the pilums they seemed so fond of. They would most likely try to entrap him again with them. "I'm the Jonin sensei of Team 7, that makes all of your glory and shame mine. If you fail, I fail just like if you succeed, I succeed."

"You do not understand Silver Fang." Naruto moved his helmet to stare down into the hollow expanse within. Gently he ran a single hand over the metal's smooth surface. "You will never understand why this must be done by my legion above any others. Zabuza Momoichi must fall to the blades we hold alone so we may lay claim to that cruel distant dream called glory."

"Do I need to join your Legion to get you to listen to me Naruto?"

"The Praetor listens to none but himself Hatake-san. His failures are his just as his successes are his." Naruto turned away from the Demon Brothers and to the tree Kakashi resided in. An empty smile stretched across his face as blue eyes looked into those of an enemy and friend in Silver fang. "I must redeem my own failures through this challenge."

"I won't let you die on my watch because of your pride."

"I shall not die."

The march to Nami no Kuni resumed without future issues. The Demon Brothers had vanished before they could be retrieved by Shinobi called for by Kakashi and now the Third Cohort of the Orange Legion came to a stop behind their Praetor, Legate, and Sakura-chan who stood behind Kakashi. He had raised a single hand into the air, clenched into a fist, as they looked out over the river they would now need to cross. He looked to Tazuna for answers, the bridge builder standing behind the three Genin that made up the majority of Team 7.

"Tazuna, what's your plan to get across this river." Kakashi stood with both his hands placed in his pockets and was lax to any toddler that may have observed him. To anyone else he was a coiled spring that demanded answers less he simply kill a nuisance. "I don't remember this being in the briefing you gave us. The papers smelled a bit too strong by the way."

"I-I-I…"

"The Orange Legion has already considered a method of crossing Silver Fang." Naruto grinned from where he stood in front of Tazuna. He stepped forward and pointed towards the riverbanks where a single soldier of the Orange Legion had emerged, a bright blue burning torch held above his head. "An army does not swim across a river such as this. They march."

"Indeed they do Naruto." Kakashi allowed himself a short laugh as he spotted more of Naruto's clones emerge and begin to pull on ropes that went beneath the current of the river. Within moments segments of a number of fallen trees tied together were raised from the depths of the water and the ropes were tied taut to buried supports in the ground. This process happened on both sides of the river as Kakashi's ears caught the ever present sound of marching beginning once again. "I guess the rest of your army is going to be following after us?"

"There are more bridges Silver Fang. The Orange Legion does not only allow ourselves one way of entry and exit." Naruto's words were true as Kakashi could catch sight of at least three more tree bridges raised from the depths of the river and secured to hidden supports along the banks. He also spotted what had to be at least a hundred or so of Naruto's clones spread out behind the trees merely watching the approaching forces.

"Hmm…you kids used quality trees. Not too good through since I reckon you want them not to last long underwater. Give it a good treatment and actually build the damn things with actually frames and support and you'll have a couple of mighty fine bridges." Tazuna in that moment gained respect from the Genin. He was a drunk, crass, blunt, overall pathetic man but he seemed to truly know his craft and had a rare passion for it.

'Could I have misjudged you?'

"Doesn't change the fact you'll never compare to the great bridge I'll be building once we get to my house!" The bridge builder could so quickly return to his previous level just by opening his mouth.

'No. No I did not.'

By nightfall Tazuna was returned to his house while the Shinobi camped outside for now. Naruto and Sasuke retired to a tent as a table was set in front of them by several men of the Orange Legion that were wordlessly dismissed. The silhouettes of the numerous Praetorians marching around not only the camp itself and the tent he currently resided in but the house of Tazuna and his family as well could dimly be seen thanks to the numerous fires set by the Orange Legion.

"Legate Sasuke, what is our strategy here?" Naruto looked to his second in the Orange Legion and the Uchiha offered him a confident smirk as he brought a closed fist over his heart.

"The detachments of the Third Cohort we've sent ahead have established a base camp not far from the river we crossed around sunset. The house of the client has been watched over by a minimum shift of three decanus and their men at all times. Scouts have been dispatched and are exploring the surrounding areas for both information and supplies. Several detachments have advanced deeper into Nami no Kuni as requested and have reported every night as ordered." Sasuke dropped his fist from over his heart and drew out a scroll from a holder at his back. "They have reported troubling news you must hear Praetor."

"Allow me to see it then." Naruto extended his hand and Sasuke dropped the scroll into it without a second thought. The seal of the Orange Legion of the Uzumaki Empire was opened and Naruto unrolled it without circumstance. As he read over the report from his scouts his eyes briefly widened before narrowing as he cast the scroll onto the table once he was finished.

"This is…" He had no words and instead released a mirthless laugh. "The Third steps from one inferno into another it seems. They will face the Demon of the Mist within days it seems."

"Or they cannot." His Legate immediately had his attention as he rolled the scroll back up and pressed it into the table where it simply vanished into it. "The report states that a shipping magnate known as Gato is responsible for Zabuza Momoichi's presence in the region. If the money the man has is…repossessed for other purposes, then he stands no chance of retaining Zabuza's services for much longer. Silver Fang, while a bane to the Orange Legion, is well known and will require a substantial sum to engage to kill a simple bridge builder."

"I see." Naruto's eyes roved over the map stretched across the table, pulled taut at either end. He leaned forward and blue eyes took in the information present as red and black observed him. "You aim to strike at the cash assets of Gato now?"

"I wish to lead a number of centuries tonight if possible by your orders Praetor." Sasuke looked down towards the map on the table instead of at the leader of the Uzumaki Empire. "I have ordered the spread of the men under my command across the territory Gato rules. They will not fully engage the enemy and instead aim to capture the numerous cash reserves Gato has across the land. The men look to impress several ships into the Navy of the Uzumaki Empire as well Praetor." At those words a grin covered the lips of both. The prospect of such gains and such minimal loses were very enticing but neither were foolhardy after the battle with Silver Fang not too long ago. "I will lead the attack on Gato's personal headquarters come morning and bring you his head if you wish."

"Such filth does not deserve to have such an honor." Naruto's words brought a dark grin to Sasuke's face. "Kill him and his thugs."

"I sh-" His promise was interrupted when the tent flap burst open and Sakura rushed in.

"Naruto, Sasuke, something's happened!"

* * *

AN: Well, there's the first three chapters of Orange Legion. Tell me what you think of it. Hate it? Enjoy it? Curious as to why this thing even exist? Review, PM me, or yell to the sky (Probably not the best option) all your questions.

I can probably get answers back for the first two options. Third is unlikely.

Also, brief little note, chapters 1 and 3 are irregularities. The, roughly, twenty chapters I've written so far are not this long. There was a plan to break each in half when I was going over them but I never found a good place to separate them at.

Peace.


	4. CONFLICT BEGINS!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full chapter title: CONFLICT BEGINS! The Wave Campaign Commences!

Also, another two chapters. Just remember 1 and 3 are irregularities.

* * *

"I see then." Naruto looked at the picture laid before him of a happy family of three. A beautiful woman stood next to a man with a young boy in her arms, one reaching out with arms he could not yet fully control for the smiling man in the picture with them.

Inari.

Tsunami.

Kaiza.

Three names were all they were supposed to be to the blonde haired Genin looking at them but they had so quickly become something more. Somehow three names had become something precious to him and he didn't know how to feel about that. His Legate stood with him, the centurion of his Praetorians stood with him, his lovely Sakura-chan stood with him and all three were expecting him to do something.

"Like I said before Naruto, it's you call since it's your army." Kakashi played the role of the dispassionate Jonin. His tone was somehow lethargic with every word he spoke, his hands were in his pockets like always, and his single visible eye looked around the room without interest. He never did look at the picture on the table.

"The Orange Legion…" His voice trailed off before he could finish. The Genin brought a hand up to his face and rubbed at his eyes. "I'm sorry, I am tired."

"A decision can always be reached later in the morning." Sasuke spoke his piece. It was one short and simple. The Orange Legion already had plans to destroy Gato's funds and the man himself, the unexpected nature of Kaiza's situation would not change any of those plans in his eyes. The merchant baron would still fall before the might of the Orange Legion of the Uzumaki Empire. "Plans must be made regardless, troops must be moved, supplies gathered, and attacks planned. No matter what choice you make Praetor it is unlikely to take effect tonight." He also could still lie, something perhaps made better with so little words.

"I know that very well Legate." Naruto looked towards the picture again. It was something that was like a siren to him, unable to pull away from the call it had on him. He wanted nothing more than to break the frame and torch the photograph inside but his body would not follow his commands. He found himself gingerly holding the image in his hands instead of smashing it to pieces as he wished to do. He did nothing to it despite wishing to see it destroyed and the plague it was on his mind erased. "Do not think to question how well I know the capabilities of my own army."

"Of course Praetor, forgive me." Sasuke seemed to understand he had stepped out of line and retreated half a step behind the undisputed leader of the Uzumaki Empire and all facets of it. "I meant no disrespect with my words towards you or your great Orange Legion."

"I am not petty Legate." Naruto's words were distant as he turned indecipherable blue eyes to the bridge builder they were to protect with their lives. "You, Tazuna, tell me why I should devote my forces to rescuing this Kaiza from thugs? Why should I not order you to have your workers, his comrades, do such a thing?"

"I won't lie to you, not anymore at least, but those men aren't the best." Tazuna was surprisingly not drunk. He hadn't touched the bottle since they had crossed the border into Nami no Kuni. "The best, the ones we used to have in droves, are scared in their homes. They're trying to provide for their families while this old man tries to build something to get Gato's hands out from around our necks. The men that were here were only here for a few more days at the most since I was going to bring in real builders to help me but…" He stopped as he rubbed at his throat. No doubt he knew about the kill order. "I figured an old man's got to do what he's got to do but I'm not as dumb as I look. Half the folks who mean well wouldn't know how to read a blueprint without me there and those that do probably couldn't do much. Kaiza's the only man I can trust in this place to keep the project on time once I'm gone. He'll be the only hope to make sure Gato doesn't have control of Nami no Kuni forever."

"I see." Naruto allowed something to enter his eyes then. Tazuna had once again worked his way back up the ranks in his mind. "Legate." The single word instantly brought Sasuke to attention, his hand fell to the hilt of his sword and his free arm came up to his chest. "Centurion." The leader of his Praetorians was the same as the Uchiha. The tone Naruto spoke with let both know he was about to issue an order they would have no other desire than to complete. "Tell the Third to prepare themselves in full. We shall face battle soon."

"I shall do as you wish Praetor." The centurion left the room to the camp at that. He had work to do to get the men of the Third in fighting shape.

"Legate, you are to begin your operations as soon as possible." Naruto's eyes held an intensity that made Kakashi silently approve. "Show the filth of this land why they will not stand to the might of the Uzumaki Empire and the mighty Orange Legion. Show them all how we shall not tolerate their presence any longer."

"I shall do as you command Praetor." The Legate of the Orange Legion spoke no more as he turned and left the room. His black and red eyes were focused on the task at hand as he brought a hand up to the hidden communication device in his ear. "Praetor has approved the plan. Begin the attack."

Finally Naruto turned to Sakura.

"Remain here Sakura-chan. My Praetorians and I will soon bring Kaiza back here." Naruto's hand fell to his sword as he walked towards the door. "Your Blossom Guards shall watch over all in this home for tonight as long as you remain within."

'Naruto, what happened to you?' It was a strange thought to have as she grazed at the orange cloak at his back as he walked away. It was still difficult to see Naruto as anyone but the worst student from the Academy but that stance had gradually changed the more and more she saw of the blonde. He wasn't an idiot. He wasn't as loud as he was every day when they were being taught by Iruka-sensei. He was just as confident judging by the way he lead his 'Orange Legion' day in and day out. He was smarter than he ever let on judging by just how well coordinated his troops were, how well they functioned as more of a machine than individuals at times. He cared for her despite everything she had done to him when they were at the Academy. He had trained a century of his Orange Legion to protect her without even knowing she would accept them in the end, he just wanted to make sure she was safe. 'What happened to you?'

"Sakura-chan." One of her Blossom Guards snapped her out of her thoughts, he offered his arm to her as two others sealed the door to the house behind Naruto once he walked out. More stood around the house and she knew more gathered outside and watched them all. "Praetor wishes you to remain safe during this night. Come with me to your rooms."

"Of course." Her emerald eyes focused on the door for a moment longer before they met the identical blue eyes of her guard as the Genin on her mind. "Make sure to watch Tsunami-san and Inari too."

"We shall." She heard the clinking of steel against steel outside despite how much the walls dampened the noise. Kakashi heard it too judging by the way he focused Chakra to his ears to hear the movements of Naruto's men better. Most of them were probably moving out in every direction while some would stay here to set up a true camp for war.

"LEGATE PRESENT, HAVE SOME PRIDE BOYS!" The centurion Naruto had selected to lead his century in his absence stood at the ready, his shield on his arm and his sword at his side with the majority of the clones in his personal force with him. Ten stood apart from the rest, the clones he would personally lead into battle against the scum plaguing Nami no Kuni.

"Centurion, take the majority of our forces and run through the nearby town. Draw them away and have our archers pick them off as you do so. I'll come in behind them and while the fools are in disarray send what you can to finish the job. Take the rest with you and look for stragglers while you establish the perimeter as is protocol. I'll gather any of the men you send and sweep within the formation. Once we meet up we'll move forward to the next." Sasuke's plan was simple. A century was moving in a general area of Nami no Kuni, assigned to them before they had left Hi no Kuni, and had divided themselves in half for the most part. Each area could be cleared of the majority of bandits, low-lives, and thugs in several hours by the divided century as they marched to link up. Eventually, their movements would funnel them together to take down larger concentrations of bandits which would already be in disarray thanks to the Praetorians of the Third that would have already begun attacking.

In short, by daylight, Nami no Kuni would be the territory of the Orange Legion's Third Cohort.

"Everyone ready!" Sasuke looked to the clones of the Third. Eyes of steel and anxiousness for battle answered him. He drew his blade with a grin as he pointed it forward. "March!"

"HOO!"

"Orders have come in from command." The centurion stood among the leaders of the conturberniums of his century as he removed his finger from his ear and he grinned. "Move out immediately. No mercy! Show this filth the might of Praetor's mighty Legion!"

"HOO!" Each saluted with a clenched fist over their hearts before drawing their swords and bearing their shields on steady arms.

"Let's go!" He took up his own arms in his hands and quickly his soldiers rose from where they sat in waiting and followed after him eager for battle.

The bandit encampment below them would never have a chance.

"Fan out! First, Second, and Third on me! The rest of you encircle and enclose!" He quickly barked out his orders and while never breaking stride they seamlessly fell into formation around him. They rushed forward and broke the tree lines as the others moved around, encircling the camp with pilum in hands and shields held in firm grips. The fleeing bandits would crash upon steel like water on rocks and their bodies would crash into jagged stone in the pilum they held at the ready.

"HOO!"

They clashed their arms together before beginning a march forward, gaining the eyes of many of the already terrified bandits on them. One step after the other. A man who stood in ranks was to never stop moving forward as a soldier of the Orange Legion. It was a pattern that had been drilled into them in training and something they could do instinctively be in in battle or just upon awakening. It was all part of their final test after all. Twin rows were wordlessly formed, each man of the great Orange Legion knew precisely where they needed to be in their formation and fell into it without question. Half were placed in the front in the first row and half were placed in the rear in the second row and both held their arms at the ready. Pilum were vicious things in trained hands and accurate even in relatively untrained ones.

"PILUM!" At the order they threw the weapon forward and a line of fleeing bandits rushing out from the camp was ruthlessly torn down as a new projectile appeared in each of their hands without a moment wasted. It was also a thing accomplished through training. "PILUM!" Another wave of pilum traveled through the air launched by both waves and the field was dotted with them this time but no new bandits were claimed in name of the Uzumaki Empire.

"FIRST! Draw swords!"

"HOO!"

The two rows were used for a reason. Another wave approached and was cut down to half across the distance as shields were jammed into the ground and pilums impaled where they stood while their hands flew to the hilts of their blades and drew them forth. Shields were returned to their place on the arms of the man it belonged to and they hunched over slightly.

Excitement ripped through the ranks despite any attempt to suppress it and remain clearheaded in the heat of battle. It was an impossible thing to do to the Third despite any training they received before deployment in Nami no Kuni. It was hopeless to numb the desire for glory, the pride they felt every moment they stood in ranks, the exhilaration they felt the moment before every clash of blades. To take those things away would destroy what made the Orange Legion a soon to be feared force. To destroy those things would make them nothing more than mindless puppets.

The Orange Legion was as based on individual independence as it was based on the power of many joined to one.

"SUBSTITUTE!"

"HOO!"

The first row vanished as the second stepped forward, wordlessly accepting the extra pair of pilum to each from the first. They drew back and awaited the order to fire once again.

The orange cloak of the centurion was visible to all as he withdrew from combat. Three men instantly moved to stand as a wall of steel with their swords at the ready before him as his sword was exchanged for a unique pilum issued only to centurions. It was thrown into the air and lit into a blazing orange flare that was a new order. Swords were drawn as the pilum in their hands and before them disappeared. No time was wasted before the second row charged forth across the distance and joined the first in battle.

"The battle goes well?"

"Indeed Legate." The centurion overlooked the corpses being piled by his century. A dozen bandits had been easily waylaid into a trap by a handful of shouting men and had paid for their foolishness to commit such acts on lands soon to be held by the Uzumaki Empire. "We've killed five dozen of the filth by now."

"Good. Continue."

"As you wish Legate." The centurion removed his hand from his ear and instead turned to the men awaiting his orders. He gave them with his bloodied sword drawn and a grin on his face. "March!"

"HOO!"

"This is it?" The centurion in charge of a century of the Third looked on with distaste as his men held the dozen or so bandits holding the town before him. The Uzumaki Empire was great and unknown for now but the level of opposition to their attack was pathetic. Any attacker, no matter the words spoken by them, should be met with the same force as legends would be. To think any less of the Orange Legion simply because word had not already spread to them was deserving of only one sentence. "Slay them and we'll continue onward." He could handle his disgust as long as glory laid with the Orange Legion and the lands belonged to the illustrious Praetor by dawn.

"HOO!" Swords were drawn, screams were ignored, and blood ran. The centurion had already stepped forward to the front of the column and issued his order. The men of the Orange legion began their march anew and soon the next bandit camp would fall to their blades. Soon Nami no Kuni itself would belong to Praetor and the Uzumaki Empire.

"HALT!" Far away, deeper in Nami no Kuni, a centurion rose his clenched fist into the air and the column he marched at the head of instantly came to a halt. He looked upon the defenses arrayed against him and his soldiers of the Orange Legion and felt a strange combination.

It was made of two things. One was simple pride at the men of the Legion for it being so ineffective and the other was rage at the nature of the barricade to his progress.

"What shall we do centurion?"

"Bring down that gate. A single piece of artillery should do."

The centurion could hardly find it in himself to simply shake his head at the meager defenses arrayed against the soldiers of the mighty Orange Legion. A shack had better defensive walls than the village in front of him, a wooden fence that had long ago succumbed to the cruel passage of time. Where once it was undoubtedly great, it was now nothing but a pathetic obstacle to stop him and his men in their campaign. The wall was plated in rough iron but its hinges were laid in now rotted wood. A single piece of artillery tore it away without much opposition.

"FORWARD!" Precautions were still in place despite anything they may feel. Ranks were held and a detachment with the centurion at the head charged forward into the smoke hanging in the broken frame. Shields were held at the ready, swords held as they were trained to hold them, and the ranks closed swiftly behind the last men to rush through them. Pilum were raised behind the first line and armed. Artillery was readied in the front and another century would already be smashing into the back of the large if poorly defended bandit town. Reports showed hundreds would be inside the walls and so the intent was not to take the den of filth in a single charge. A staging ground was needed on each end for both centuries to sweep through the town. The gate would be one and a rear wall in disrepair would do the same for the other century once the attention of the bandits was on them alone.

His sword bit into flesh and his shield knocked away spears that could do nothing against his armor even if they were allowed to pass. He was the first on through the breach in the gates of course, his shield blocking blow after blow against him from the awaiting bandits as he pressed onward. A centurion could not stop, could not hesitate in battle with the enemies of the Uzumaki Empire. All must fall to them or the century would fall, the Cohort would fall, the Legion itself would fall if they fell. A centurion only ever pressed forward without doubt. His sword cleaved through the shaft of a pitchfork and cut into the chest of the man wielding it without hassle. The bandits did not wear armor. They fell quickly to his second strike before his shield was risen to throw aside the strike of two when he threw himself forward and into his next lunge. He turned suddenly, two swords dotting over his back as he crouched down and felling two bandits with the blades slipped through their throats. A pull back and a three man line was formed to weather any storm thrown against them. Pilum surged forward as the two stepped to the side to allow them through and burst through the flesh of more bandits. They were left there as the arms withdrew and with a mighty bash from their shields they were tossed aside without issue. Hissing filled the air moments later.

"SHIELDS!" Three shields were embedded into the ground and three followed on top, two followed on either. A dome was created that withstood the numerous blasts that followed.

If the attention of the filth weren't already focused on him and his men, it was now.

"Ready yourself for the next batch of trash men." The centurion took hold of his shield as the one placed on top was withdrawn and the ranks expanded to a single curved row of ten. The curve laid inward and towards the gate behind them. Ten shields and with them ten blades was all that would be needed to hold the breach they stood before as the men of his century laid ladders on the wall and surged up them.

"HOO!"

A great number of pilum soared silently over the treetops before cascading down with the only sound they brought the gentle whisper of death to the thirty six bandits that had been discovered by scouts. A centurion observed from the branches of a tree as the bandits that had made camp in the forest were slain down to the last before he rose his fist up. A dozen of his men stood around the branches with him and wordlessly they vanished without trace. The rest of the century would be informed and told to advance forward. He silently took up and fired a pilum when one, a drunk, staggered back in and would have sobered at the sight of the dead. In the end he died as he lived, nothing but a filthy wretch.

"This trash is unworthy of the Legion's blades." He spoke more to himself than someone else and wordlessly exited the trees in a single leap and landed before the marching column of his century. Immediately they came to an abrupt stop, lowering shields slightly to salute with a clenched fist placed over their hearts. He returned it as he rose to his feet and looked towards the soldier he left in charge. Without the need for verbal prompting he began his report.

"My centurion, the men are ready to march and word has reached us of the movements of Legate nearby. Do you wish for us to join him?"

"The Legate is capable." He didn't speak to a single men, he spoke instead to nearly a hundred as he turned to face the road. "We will move and make sure he does not come under assault from cowards trailing behind our mighty Legion."

"HOO!"

"Is this all they have?"

Naruto looked towards the forces arrayed against him and his Praetorians. It was a pathetic sight to see such poorly armed bandits stand against the gleaming armor and razor sharp blades of his most elite soldiers. It was something that was almost sickening to know he would need to waste time here with such pathetic excuses for warriors. Most of them had seen fit to spend their time terrorizing children without end and some were simply bullies. The sight of his Legion had sent them running for the hills until they had come to believe they outnumbered him. He had sent half of his Praetorians around the village of course and they would slaughter them from the rear once the attack began in full. The bandits of course did not know that or else they would have tried to at least take a better position instead of the main road. The idiotic filth didn't know and so didn't think of better tactics and Naruto felt his rage grow.

"We must fight such filth to truly claim these lands as our own. How sickening to believe these creatures once held the fear of the people in their hands." He turned to his men without another moment wasted and looked into eyes that were identical to his own, faces that carried the same features, and the same soul dwelled within them all.

He saw a will few could even dream of boasting of having and determination none but he himself possessed in this world. It made him forget his distaste for now as he focused on what needed to be done above all else. Parasites must be removed from the lands he had claimed as his own. A black mark here was a black mark on the Uzumaki Empire and such a thing could not be allowed.

"Nami no Kuni is a diseased land. A cruel rottenness has spread through it at the speed of rampaging beasts because of one man, the source of this great infection on our land. He is a parasite that commands power through the material things. He holds no true strength not purchased by his vast wealth. He holds fear because of his paid thugs. He lies like a rat on the land which has been claimed for the Uzumaki Empire! He is little more than trash, filth not fit to even march through!"

"HOO!"

"Nami no Kuni is diseased because of the man named Gato!"

"HOO!"

"He holds lands of the Uzumaki Empire in captivity through fear and terror but no longer!"

"HOO!"

"He faces the wrath of the mighty Orange Legion! He faces the wrath of the Uzumaki Empire! He faces each and every one of you!"

"HOO!"

He placed on his helmet and drew his sword with a grin. His Praetorians mirrored it as he turned and rose his shield up and held it at the ready.

"Let us show him what it means to face our great Orange Legion! Let us show him what it means to face death!"

"HOO!"

"FORWARD!"

Death came for those before the Legion and mercy was a beast foreign to the specter none may see until the end of their days. The halls of its home would shortly be filled with the unworthy souls before the gathered men of the Legion until they were all cast off to the depths where they belonged. The Orange Legion would see to it as they fought towards the ever distant dream of glory.

Shields were raised and blades held in eager hands as the first bandits were bled and fell. Before they could rise as the men at the head passed over, blades from those behind pierced their flesh and sent them to the halls of the dead. A dozen pilum soared over head, explosive tags trailing behind them and sending the lines of bandits scurrying. The dead were ripped apart and the living turned to the dying as the Praetorians advanced without pause. Naruto lead them at the front, his blade eager and thirsting for the blood of even such impure foes. His blade darted forward, past his shield, and ripped forth more blood from the trash before him as their throat was opened. He drew back and he felt his shield be struck by a thrown rock of all things.

He laughed at such pathetic projectiles.

"PILUM!"

"HOO!"

His sword was sheathed for now and as one those who held blades replaced them with the projectile of the Orange Legion. Aiming took no more than a second, the act of drawing back one's arm was well practiced and his Praetorians would not accept any degree of slowness. Their targets were selected and now they all merely awaited his order.

"FIRE!"

"HOO!"

Death surged forth by the might of their arms and more bandits fell to the might of his Orange Legion. The sight of such devastation of the enemy made him grin as he heard more scream or beg for mercy. Some even tried to bribe the men who saw them as little more than trash already. They could not even face death with dignity. Bandits were scum the Orange Legion would not tolerate and the way their blades never ceased showed the conviction every men he commanded held. It was near music to his ears.

"Is this all they can muster Praetor?" His centurion stood next to him, chuckling at such a paltry resistance and he found himself doing the same.

"Let us hope they may fight better when we stand before their doorstep!" Naruto drew his sword once again and his eyes cast back to look at the forces arrayed behind him. "Move out!"

"HOO!"

Their march swiftly turned into a run down the bloody streets. His men were well trained and his Praetorians were better as swift minute movements of his arm directed the men to separate, take different paths to further smash the bandit's presence in the town and leave them without a foothold for what would become the center of his control of Nami no Kuni. The Uzumaki Empire would not accept filth like this in the lands they held under their control.

"SHIELDS!" His centurions strode forward as he spoke, a line of men separated him from the front as shadows fell when steel was raised from above to the face the sky. He felt the heat of the flames as flaming bottles were thrown, their contents failing to pass through the shields of the Orange Legion's Praetorians as they defended their Praetor. More objects pounded the shields but none could pass through the barrier of steel and, if it was ever needed, flesh, to reach him.

"HEAVY ARTILLERY!" His centurion's voice rose above the roar and crackle of the flames and instantly his orders were followed as the shields held strong the formation shifted to open in the center where three of the more precise throwers threw forth three pilum. Explosive tags once again trailed behind them but much more than ever before. They sizzled as they soared through the air and fell onto the bandits responsible for the flames just as the formation closed. The blast was truly massive by the centurion knew it would be so.

Praetor had already been pushed back deeper into the formation, shields were embedded into the ground through their spikes and braced with the body of Praetorians. Those above lowered into a solid ceiling above as they were connected through mechanism placed along the edges of the shields. He himself stood in the middle, his flesh would be the last line of defense for Praetor if the shield would fail but it would not. They had practiced the formation dozens of times. They had yet to allow Praetor to be struck by shrapnel at far closer ranges.

The blast washed over them and they did not falter.

"RETAKE SHIELDS!"

"HOO!"

The formation was shattered as the shields that had become interlocked were pulled away and returned to the arms that held them. Praetor returned to the front as the men stepped back and rejoined the centurion and, despite the look in his blue eyes, he offered the centurion a pat on the shoulder.

"I am not made of glass my friend."

"Praetorians are to protect you always Praetor."

Humor flowed at the surface but the Praetor did not like their protocols still and it was clear to them all in that moment. He had allowed the creation of the Praetorians to ensure his safety in battle but did not like just how much he was prioritized in battle above all others. At times he feared that the very standard of the Orange Legion fell second to the man that created it.

Praetor never wished to find out if he was right.

"FORWARD!" A voice called out from ahead of them, the Praetorians sent around through the alleys must have made it to the headquarters of the bandits as the sounds of battle, swords striking out, shields absorbing blows meant for flesh, and the calls of men aiming to kill each other, reached them and Naruto forgot his current thoughts. They had better things to focus on for now.

"Let's join our brothers!"

"You heard Praetor, FORWARD!" Swords were drawn forth and the charge was retaken. The filth before them would pay the price with their blood.

"Is that all?" The screams and din of battle had faded quickly once his century had joined the conflict with three others. The last scouted bandit stronghold before them was burning to the ground as the treasures within were piled high outside by the men of the Legion under their command. Five centurions stood observing the scene and could not hide their distaste at such an easy campaign. Already dawn was beginning to break and Nami no Kuni was no longer under the control of Gato and his army of bandits and thugs. It fell to the Legion with all his assets now their own with the cost extracted from the blood of the coward's men. Inventory was being taken now of the spoils of such a short war and word spread through the Legion of the Legate's movements deeper in the country. "This is what we looked forward to facing in the great contest for glory?"

"It seems we had too great of hopes." Piles of corpses would be burned later as warning. Any stragglers would eventually fall prey to the scouts spread across the land and would face execution for their crimes against the Uzumaki Empire by the soldiers of the Orange Legion. We should have never gotten so excited to battle filth like them."

"Regardless we must report to the Legate." The centurions briefly locked eyes with each other. "Who among us will report our successes?"

"I shall abstain from glory this morning." One centurion bowed his head as he stepped back.

"I am content with blood for now and words are not with me now." Another merely raised his bloodied sword.

"I will begin our patrols across our new lands. Do not await a swift return from me or my men." A third stepped away with a brief salute to them all with his fist over his heart.

"I simply do not wish to speak to him." The last stated the truth they all held in their hearts.

"Then I shall do it." The same centurion who had asked for volunteers now accepted his own offered task as he stepped away from the remaining centurions and headed towards a tent set up for their use. He removed his helmet as he did so and tucked it under his arm before he threw aside the tent flaps.

A centurion stood within the tent, looking over a map with two fingers pressed to his exposed ears with his helmet laid on the table the map rested on.

"I will advise against this rash action Legate. Legion scouts have yet to report back to any of our posts on what lies within or what opposition you shall face. Reports indicate bandits have drawn further and further inland the more our Legion advances in this land. I advise you await reinforcements from nearby a nearby detachment of the Third. No matter their numbers, the bandits will be crushed without mercy with such a great force under your command."

Something was said that made him grind his teeth in response before speaking again.

"I understand your reasoning Legate but it is not a wise decision."

Silence from the centurion followed for only a moment this time.

"I apologize Legate. I was out of line. I will contact the centurions nearby and direct them to follow your march deeper into Nami no Kuni."

Silence once again greeted him from the centurion.

"I understand. They shall establish a rally point for your glorious return."

He pulled his fingers away and hate burned in his bright blue eyes as he brought one of his fists down on the wood of the table. His teeth were bared and seemed to elongate as he held back the desire to growl at the audacity of the Uchiha Praetor had given such a distinguished and powerful rank as Legate. He answered to no one but Praetor himself and now such power had gone to his head. He was committed to foolishness and his pride would not allow any spoken words make him reconsider his actions.

Like many others of the Orange Legion, ranging from the First to the Fourth Cohorts, the centurion joined them in questioning what precisely motivated Praetor to gift such a rogue element as Sasuke Uchiha the distinction of Legate of the Orange Legion of the Uzumaki Empire. He had shown himself incapable of following advice from more experienced centurions and refused to consider any views but his own when he entered the battlefield. His men were well trained, some of the best in the Legion, but a single century stood little hope against thousands. No matter the individual skill, the foolish pride of the Legate would lead to endless death among them.

The core of the dislike many of the centurions held for the Uchiha was rooted there actually. It was only a matter of time until his arrogance lead to something similar to the Decimation of the Third and if such a thing came to pass then the Legate would need to perish. The Orange Legion was not a place where the pride of a singular soldier could come before the great dreams of Praetor. The Legate seemed not to understand such a thing and every command he issued held the danger of forsaking the dream Praetor strived towards.

"I hate him."

"We all do."

"I will guess that you're here to report a tale of success to our great Legate?"

"Indeed though it seems he is not easy to reach now."

"You would not be wrong as of now. He leads a campaign none of us would support deep into unknown territory and will shortly be out of signal range." He paused as an idea came to him as he drew his helmet up and placed it on. "Let us do this, leave a written report with me and we shall call it at that. While you do so I will look to save our Legion from defeat and rally nearby centurions to direct their forces to rescue our Legate from this folly of his."

"Or you could not." The centurion paused at the words from the man of equal rank and as he looked at him and saw that blue eyes held the light of cunning. "As you said, he will be out of signal range shortly. Praetor himself will not know of his location due to his rash actions. Neither will any centurions wishing to assist him. They will of course rally at the camp he will abandon and await his return or await future orders." A smile slowly crossed his face as he stepped forward. "Sadly, our scouts were waylaid by an unknown hazard and could not establish transmitters in such territory. The Legate was left with only his century and we could only eagerly await his return to us."

"Yes, of course. We established a post for the Third to replenish itself before entering such foreign lands and our Legate wished to advance further to see what lied ahead. He did not expect a great opposition nor did he expect us to follow him into the darkness."

Within that tent the two had come to a decision.

The Legate of the Orange Legion would either fall in unforgivable disgrace within the darkness or rise back to the light bearing true glory upon his shoulders.

Silently one left to conduct his report as he had entered the tent after such words with the Legate and the centurion and had only been directed to compile a record of their successes in Nami no Kuni. The other stepped away and headed to gather a number of scouts and messengers to relay orders from the Legate to the rest of the Third scattered across the new lands under the standard of the Uzumaki Empire's magnificent Orange Legion. Neither would be guilty of what occurred within the darkness of the unknown lands.

Neither would see their heads roll either way.

"Well, that was simple." Naruto returned his sword to his side as the last of the bandits were gathered by his Praetorians and put to the sword. Their attempt to lure the Orange Legion into a pyrrhic victory by burning the town before them to cinders was lost when his reserves appeared. Archers made short work of such deceitful strategies and those that remained from the initial bombardment were rounded up and quickly put to death before they could flee or reinforce the failing defenders. "Centurion, gather the men and tell them to begin patrols. I will be elsewhere as I wish to speak with my Legate and see his progress." He removed his helmet and observed the sun rising higher and higher in the sky. "He promised me this land would be that of the Legion's and, with it, the Empire's by daybreak."

"Your orders shall be done Praetor." The centurion he placed in charge of his Praetorians brought his closed fist to his heart and stepped away to issue out assignments.

Naruto headed forward while at the same time pressing a finger to his exposed ear.

"Silver Fang, how goes your stay at a humble abode?"

" _I've had worse places. This is about your campaign I gather?"_

"You would be correct with such thoughts Fang. Nami no Kuni has been purged of filth unfitting for lands held by my glorious Empire."

" _I don't remember telling you to conquer Nami no Kuni, Naruto."_

"You did not tell me not to conquer this place either Hatake-sensei." His grin was audible and the Jonin let out a sigh.

" _I suppose I didn't. You'll be explaining it all to the Hokage regardless. I'm naming you Team Leader."_

"You have made a great decision this day Fang." Naruto spoke no more and cut the connection between him and the Jonin that held command of Team 7. It was a well-practiced motion to switch to another channel as he stepped into a building that was once great and would soon be so again. "Legate, how goes your campaign?"

Only the howl of static answered him and his face quickly set into one of distaste.

"Legate, how goes your campaign?" He tried again.

Static did not leave his senses and it was with a near growl that he went to a new channel.

"Centurions, this is your Praetor, where is my Legate at the moment?"

" _Reports indicate he has advanced into the darkness Praetor."_ The voice of the centurion he had placed in charge of strategy while he did battle came to his ear and Naruto did not know if he should feel pride or annoyance at the information given to him. _"Centurions have established a base camp for the Third where he departed and await his return."_

"Belay such nonsense." Naruto set his helmet down on the table before him and unrolled the map. Part of Nami no Kuni laid in swirling shadows on the map but it was already shifting as scouts reported back with more and more information every moment. A pulsing orange beacon laid somewhere within the darkness and his eyes searched for it. "Draw our scouts back and march forth into the shadows. Find my Legate and tell him my orders as I speak them to you all now."

"Cease your advance. Withdraw to camp. Await my appearance."

"Am I understood?"

" _Of course Praetor."_

"Good." He removed his finger from the wireless communication device. His good mood at such conquest was ruined by the rash actions of his Legate but despite it all a small smile tugged at his lips. "You were truly the best choice for my Legate, weren't you Sasuke Uchiha?"

His centurions needed a man to revile as much as they needed a leader to admire above all others. His centurions and his Legion needed something to hate even when battle was not upon them and the enemy arrayed before them like lambs to the slaughter. Without such a force ever present among them, divisions he could not police through vigilance or terror would arise. Neither he nor his Legion, needed such matters of frivolous pride interfering in campaigns. So he presented a force to them to draw them off of such a path. Sasuke Uchiha was given power high above them all as Legate, unquestionable beyond he himself demanding he explain his actions. The Legate encouraged hate from all those below him. It was a fact of life in many ways. His centurions would forever hate whoever held the position of Legate even if it was one of their own. He named an outsider as Legate because he needed their hate focused as much as their blades.

His forces needed internal strife among them as much as it needed foes to destroy in combat.

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AN: Review responses will be in next chapter.


	5. Dawn Breaks On A New Day In Wave!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: See? Two chapters. Full chapter title: Dawn Breaks On A New Day In Wave! Blood Is The Price That Was Paid!

* * *

"Centurion, have the men returned with Kaiza yet?" He had sent ten of his best men to retrieve Kaiza before the bandits could do anything else to the man he had come to rescue. It would reflect poorly on the Orange Legion if he allowed any harm to befall the man they had set out to rescue. Now he was forced to wait for any information on the mission.

"Word has reached me that they approach now through the streets." His centurion answered him almost immediately and Naruto paused for a moment. Silence reigned in the tent and he could dimly hear the roars of voices resound through the streets. Nowhere near was it enough to make out actual words but it was enough to know just how much Kaiza meant to the people of Wave. The same people that would sooner rather than later live under the flag of the Uzumaki Empire and the standard of the Orange Legion's Third Cohort. "You seem troubled Praetor, why is that?"

"Do you not hear the voices of the people centurion?" Naruto looked towards where the Third's blank standard rested near one of the tent's walls and then to where the Orange Legion's swirl rested over it. "They will treat us like liberators for now but the love of the people is a truly fickle thing. Kaiza, while we will be seen as conquerors at the worst, will forever be loved if what I hear is truly how these people feel for him."

"Do you wish for the men to eliminate him?"

"No." A smile crossed his face. "I have a plan for him centurion."

Within the hour, the centurion had left and a new man joined him in the tent.

"Hmm, so the old man really sent you to get me out of there?" The man before him, his wrists rubbed raw from where they had been chained and bruises running across his body, was easy to guess the identity of. He so easily recognized the man as Kaiza, partly thanks to the picture he had seen and partly thanks to the grin the man he had before him held despite all he had been through. The photographed man in the frame had the exact same smile. "Where did that old drunk get the money to hire a Jonin from…Konoha right?"

"Hmm, your praise will not faze me Kaiza." Naruto chuckled as he leaned against the table he had set up in his tent like always. "I am a Genin, one destined for greatness, but a Genin nonetheless. He hired my team and I for a bodyguard assignment some time ago. We arrived to find you imprisoned by the filth Gato employed and sought to save you from such a fate." Around them stood a near dozen Praetorians, the same men who had rescued him from the cellar Gato's thugs had thrown him in while they awaited the wretch himself. A brief interrogation of the surviving filth present had revealed the plan one of them had crafted to Gato's satisfaction.

The reports he received when Kaiza walked out of the cellar, beaten but alive and grinning, and the reactions of the populace proved why such actions would be deemed necessary. A call to arms had swept through the hopeless as if a spark had at last been lit. His Praetorians reported that a near riot had engulfed them, a wall of steel the only thing stopping the villagers from burning the bandit's headquarters to the ground in a mad frenzy. Kaiza was the one to stop it in the end. He called for the people to devote themselves to work on the bridge that was their salvation instead of petty revenge.

Kaiza was a powerful man in that regard. He was a rallying point with his demeanor that infected all others. He could make the weak unite as one for a common goal, motivate those who would not fight to take up arms, and was a man well loved by all. He commanded respect through sheer admiration and with such a great respect he commanded loyalty without issues.

Naruto, despite how much it annoyed him to admit it, could never be like Kaiza.

The Orange Legion adored him as their leader, the man who would bring forth the dream of the Uzumaki Empire through any challenges. The Orange Legion saw him as a near god sent forth to lay waste to all those who stood in his way but he was painfully mortal. He was not all knowing, he was not forever wise, and he was not invincible. He tried to be but a mortal would always remain a mortal no matter what one would try to transcend such a state.

Kaiza was different. Naruto knew it the moment he had truly laid eyes on the former prisoner of Gato's thugs. He even knew it, unconsciously, when he heard the voices of the people joined to one cause simply by his presence.

Kaiza was a man who was a man. He did not try to be anything great and instead simply did all he could. He did not care for the greater picture beyond the people of Wave. He did not care much for people like Gato beyond Gato himself because the man turned their lands desolate. He fought because he must, not because he enjoyed it. He was a builder and built the world around him to be better than when he had come into it. Kaiza was a man on a near mission to be good and that made him great. Despite all he could try and all he would do, Naruto understood he would never gain the faith or love of the people he would one day rule over with a man like Kaiza able to exist at the same time.

So he needed him on his side.

"At the same time, changes have come to Nami no Kuni, changes I feel you will find to your liking." Fear. It was a brief thing in the eyes of the man in front of him but it was present and it was something sharp blue eyes easily caught. "Gato's thugs have been eliminated by the might of the Uzumaki's Empire Orange Legion. We have purged the land of the filth that once plagued it but now we cannot leave it. The Third Cohort, the men responsible for taking this land back from trash, will remain here but I shall not."

"I must return to the First, stationed in Konohagakure, and look to the broader picture of the future of the Uzumaki Empire and not every detail of the present that lies before me. I have a trusted Legate responsible for directing the Orange Legion itself but I find myself in need of a new branch of the Uzumaki Empire. One more attuned to battle upon the waves."

"Enough talk." Kaiza's steel had been drawn in that moment. He no longer cared for speeches or build to the declaration he now knew Naruto would make, the words that would decide the fate of the lands he lived in and sought to protect. "Just tell me what you're after and why I'm here already or let me go back to my family."

"You should learn an appreciation for dramatic timing Kaiza." Naruto let a chuckle escape him and a single hand stopped the Praetorians from advancing and silencing the source of disrespect towards their Praetor. His men were sometimes too devoted but it was still a great thing to have. "Regardless, I can agree with you on getting to the point."

"You have been brought here because I require a Vicarius, a leader and voice for Nami no Kuni to prosper under the banner of the Uzumaki Empire and be protected by the standard of the Third Cohort of my Orange Legion." Blue met black. Steel shined in both.

A decision that would decide the fate of Nami no Kuni was to be decided in this tent.

"Legate!" A shout called Sasuke's mind back and his Sharingan turned from the trees in front of him to the clone that now demanded his complete and utter attention. "The scouts have returned!"

"Take me to them." He had gotten tired of sitting on watch. It was better to stretch his legs then simply remain watching the motionless trees for nonexistent bandits after the purge the Orange Legion's Third Cohort had unleashed on their filth. "You there, take up my watch!" He singled out a clone to take over his watch and hurried after the one that had reported to him.

He was brought to the center of the camp, a fire the gathering spot and where the scouts downed water and waited for him with helmets cast off their heads. The moment he stepped into the firelight, a dozen or so fists met the armor the Orange Legion wore.

"Legate." He returned the salute a moment later and searched for the leader of the standing scouts. He could not find the clone he had placed in charge of the latest expedition and his eyes narrowed. He turned to the clone he had named second instead for answers. First he would need to know how their search went and his second priority was for the location of the mission commander.

"Report your findings scouts."

"The remaining bandits, those we have pursued since they fled, have joined with a larger force at what we believe to be a stockpile for Gato or even his headquarters. It is unknown as the land was scorched and we could not approach closer while remaining unknown. The commander ordered me to report back with the majority of our expedition while he took two others with him to look for an entry point. He ordered a beacon to be thrown into the air an hour after my return to camp. If he or the two others do not answer it then he is to be presumed captured or killed." The scout answered his first and second priority without prompting. He appreciated how well the clones of his century seemed to understand his priorities. It didn't change the fact that the scout commander was foolish.

"Centurion." His eyes searched for the familiar armor and found it and the clone wearing it striding towards him. He stopped and saluted and was saluted in turn. "Prepare to march."

"Where do we march, Legate?"

"It would be ridiculous to devote a hundred men to battle a force of perhaps thousands." Sasuke looked towards the blank standard that laid pristine above the flames before him. The Third Cohort had no glory to share with the world yet but would gain it soon before the Legate left the battlefield. "March the majority of our forces back. I will remain here with the First and see if the scout commander returns. If he does not then I will return with no additions." His red and black eyes looked not only at the centurion but at the clones gathered around him as well. "Understand all that?"

"Of course Legate." Nothing else needed to be said as he returned his helmet to its proper place on his head and turned to the gathered men of the century. "Century, let's move!"

"HOO!"

The march past the Legate was a single file one as he set his shield against a fallen tree and waited for the hour to be up and for the beacon to be thrown into the air. The First remained with him and settled down to wait with their swords at their sides and their shields standing upright next to them.

'It seems continuing my pursuit was a mistake after all.' Sasuke shook his helmeted head as red and black eyes looked at the floor of the forest before him. 'I should have waited for reinforcements so I could crush this filth without such humiliation as this. The Legate of the Orange Legion unable to advance against simple bandits is disgraceful.'

He had only his thoughts as company and he already found himself wishing for the hour to be up.

"Sakura-chan, it is a pleasure as always to witness your beauty personally." Two of her Blossom Guard saluted her with fist over their hearts and heads bowed as she walked to the door. A third, standing off to the side, stepped forward from against the wall and into her path. "We have been instructed by Praetor to allow none of the occupants within this home to leave. That includes you as well Sakura-chan."

"I know." It hadn't taken long to understand Naruto's crush on her had been the source of the Blossom Guard of his Orange Legion. She still didn't know what to feel about his clones defending her at all hours of the day. She knew Naruto had assigned a hundred of his clones to not only guard her but be devoted solely to her wishes. They refused to even listen to Sasuke when he wanted to speak to her in private, someone she had learned held authority second only to Naruto's own over the entire Orange Legion. She still didn't know if they would listen to Naruto himself if she told them not to and didn't want to find out.

She still didn't know exactly how she felt towards them being bodyguard but she did know their utter devotion to her frightened her more than it comforted her.

"I just need to speak with Kakashi-sensei and I know he's outside right now." She offered all three a smile they would describe as heavenly. "You can come with me if you want but I really do need to talk to him."

"Silver Fang does not deserve to look upon your beauty Sakura-chan." She also knew the Orange Legion hated Kakashi even if most held a healthy amount of fear from the sheer destruction he had brought them during the Bell Test. "I will contact the Guards outside and instruct them to break position for now."

"Thank you." She swore she saw him blush from her thanks as he saluted her. He turned his head away from her and pressed a finger to his ear.

"Blossom Guards, Sakura-chan will speak with Silver Fang. First and Second is to escort her to him and secure the perimeter." He spoke quietly and quickly and she dimly heard the 'HOO' shouted in response through the doors before he turned back to her. "The men will be awaiting you Sakura-chan."

The two in front of the door stepped aside when she approached and it was opened from the outside.

The daylight momentarily blinded her after being inside for so long so she shielded her watering eyes. When she withdrew them, she couldn't help but grasp at the sight before her.

She had been mistaken with her previous thought of a simple hundred clones being part of her Blossom Guards. They had assembled outside the house before dawn broke and she saw hundreds surrounding the expanded clearing of the house. A ring of burned out fires stretched around the very edge of the perimeter they had created and within it stood ring after ring of Naruto's clones. Their shields were held outwards, swords held in their hands at the outermost layers and behind them clones stood with an almost sea of pilums around them. The innermost rings even held bows, quivers held upright by the ground with their swords at their sides and shields standing before them. Even in front of her twenty clones stood, their shields in their arms and swords at their side for now but the moment her shocked form took another step she knew they would encircle her with their weapons at the ready.

'I feel I should start being worried now.' The sheer numbers Naruto had gifted her did slightly worry her now.

"Sakura-chan." The clones formed twin rows of ten in front of her and one stepped forward and his fist came over his armored heart as he bowed his head to her. "We have been chosen to escort you to Silver Fang and then return with you here."

"That's…nice…" She nodded to him as she stepped forward and just like she thought the clones instantly formed around her, shields enveloping her in a moving cage of steel and flesh. They kept pace with her seamlessly, needing no comment to either slow down or speed up. The circles in front of her opened and she stepped through them without a word, the lines closing behind her. The efficiency of the Orange Legion and the Blossom Guards could never be understated it seemed. They seemed more machines than just the clones they really were.

Kakashi waited for her in the trees. Without even a look the clones with her dispersed themselves to wait among the foliage around the two. They were out of eyesight but not out of earshot. What she said would be remembered by them.

"There's no need to worry about the clones Sakura." Kakashi stood in front of her, his hands in his pocket with his one visible eye looking into the trees around them. "There's a Genjutsu over us. You're complaining about the workload I've given you on the mission. I'm ignoring you."

"Thank you Kakashi-sensei." She allowed her shoulders to fall. She was glad she was alone with her Jonin sensei for now. "They watch me all the time. I know they're here because Naruto wants me to stay safe but I feel more like…like…"

"A prisoner." Kakashi perfectly summed up what she felt as he took his hands out his pockets and crossed them over his chest. His single eye roved over her armor and took in the presence of the sword at her side. The more he saw it, the more he figured it was ceremonial above all else. Sakura was never supposed to fight it seemed. "Your sword, how often do you get to use it?"

"I have a practice one I use." Sakura glanced down at the weapon before looking away. "Let's not talk about anything Naruto related sensei. I need to ask you something important about the mission."

"Then you should do it soon, those clones are getting pretty restless with me ignoring you." Kakashi put his back against the tree behind him and waited for the Genin to speak.

"Zabuza Momoichi, is he really going to show up?"

"Yeah, he'll probably show himself in a few more hours."

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei."

"You should head back inside now Sakura. Make sure the family doesn't get in any trouble while I'm out here watching. I'll try to talk to Naruto and Sasuke and see if they're plan worked and if Kaiza is still alive."

"Actually, there's one more thing I want to ask you Kakashi-sensei."

"Go ahead."

A few minutes later, Sakura walked back into the house with her Blossom Guard sealing the perimeter yet again. Word spread of Silver Fang's disrespect to the beautiful Sakura-chan and more than once the thought to make him pay for such a crime passed through the mind of the centurion in charge of the men of the Orange Legion before him. He withheld himself but one day Silver Fang would pay. His crime had not been forgotten or forgiven by the Legion, they were merely recorded. Eventually the debt would be paid and Silver Fang would face the fate of all threats to the Uzumaki Empire.

"Praetorians!" Naruto emerged from his tent with Kaiza at his side. A settlement had been reached at last in their argument. Now all that was needed was to announce the decision to the men gathered before him. The Orange Legion had claimed a great victory that needed to be recorded this day.

"HOO!"

"Acknowledge the Vicarius of Nami no Kuni."

"HOO!" As one the Praetorians assembled before him turned from Praetor to the Vicarius of Nami no Kuni. "Vicarius Kaiza! Vicarius Kaiza! Vicarius Kaiza!" Each cry of the name was met with one of their fists striking above their armored hearts before being extended out towards the man who would bear the responsibility of Nami no Kuni's prosperity under the banner of the Uzumaki Empire. "Vicarius Kaiza! Vicarius Kaiza! Vicarius Kaiza!"

The call went out six times through the Praetorians before silence settled as their hands returned to their sides and took hold of the hilt of their blades. They arranged themselves into marching formation, knowing the desire of Praetor to announce the news to the man responsible for his presence in Nami no Kuni.

"So, the old man really did come here drunk?" Kaiza was rather easygoing despite the responsibility placed on his shoulders. His arms were behind his head as he walked with Naruto, the two moving side by side with the Praetorians around them both. A solid wall of steel separated them from the citizens of Nami no Kuni who looked on. Kaiza waved at most of them, smiled at others, and shouted brief words to some before turning back to Naruto. "That sounds like him. He hasn't exactly been in the best shape since Gato started…telling him how much he disagreed with his bridge. He's been on the bottle ever since to deal with it. When people kept leaving or disappearing…well he didn't spend many nights sober. When the bodies started showing up on the bridge he got worse." Kaiza stopped talking for a moment. He swallowed a sudden lump in his throat and briefly his head was bowed to the weight of his past memories. Naruto was about to speak when Kaiza rose from his burden and black eyes looked up towards the clear sky above them. "I started taking over most of the project, was really about to lay down the actual bridge when Gato's thugs showed up and chased most of the workers I could gather off. They were lucky they came at the end of the day." Kaiza's hands balled into fists and Naruto appreciated the fury in his eyes. "I would have taken anything I could have grabbed and killed those bastards if they tried to stop me before I finished."

"I've heard it took Gato's whole gang to bring you down, is that true?" Naruto's question was met with a brief and loud chuckle from Kaiza.

"It was half of them actually. I ended up throwing most of them off the bridge in the end so the other half had to show up when I was done and drag me to Gato." Kaiza laughed again as he remembered his capture and turned to Naruto. "Can you believe most of them couldn't even swim? Why live in a place like this when you can't do something that simple?"

"Bandits are filth. Gato's thugs are no better than them, they only relied on the tactics of a bully." Naruto let his own laughter join Kaiza for a moment. "They fell swiftly to my Orange Legion with such a thing worthless against my men."

"I figured they couldn't handle much beyond normal people." Kaiza sighed as they came to the bridge off in the distance. It was trashed, pieces torn away, the sturdy lumber sawed off and hauled away, and bits of it seemed to have been set aflame but the waves had put them out. He saw his work almost destroyed and his face turned grim. "They couldn't destroy a bridge made by decent folks either."

"My Legion will see to it that the bridge is completed before I leave." Naruto's words were only met by a nod from Kaiza. His eyes remained locked on the bridge ahead of them.

"That bridge shouldn't be causing so much trouble but it does anyway." Kaiza's face swiftly morphed into a smile despite the state of the bridge. "Guys like Gato, his thugs, and anyone who tries to keep people down can't stand a bridge like that."

"Why is that?" Naruto didn't see what Kaiza saw. He saw a sturdily built bridge that his Legion could easily not only complete but improve upon. He only saw another achievement for the glorious Uzumaki Empire. Kaiza saw it very differently. He saw something much more in the bridge that no one but the people of Nami no Kuni would ever see. Only people who had suffered like them to people like Gato could understand why the bridge was so important. "I admit, the bridge is well built for the material you have but it is no grand achievement."

"That's where you're wrong Naruto. That bridge, anything like that bridge, carries with it the simple thing called hope." Kaiza stepped forward, the Praetorians opening their formation and allowing him to gaze at the still standing fruit of his labor for a moment longer before they continued on. "When we at last complete it, Nami no Kuni will be free of Gato's influence and at last be allowed to prosper like it once did. That bridge, things like that bridge, represents what anyone with two arms and the will to work can do. It shows people don't have to stand to bullies and thugs like Gato when they have the will to build something to make the world around them a bit better. That bridge is something that can't be destroyed no matter how many axes go at it, how many fires they set, and no matter how much damage they try to do. That bridge stands for hope."

"That's why I call it the Bridge of Hope you know." Kaiza let out one last laugh as they entered the forest path. Naruto did not join in but a grin crossed his lips.

'Hope…such a fragile little thing.'

'As much as you try to hold up the people of this land, my land now, you can't ignore how weak they are. You can't ignore just how weak hope really is in the end. Gato couldn't crush the hope of the people but you couldn't rally them with it either. Hope would make them wish for someone else to save you when Gato decided to drag you out before them. Hope would make them wish for someone to be strong enough to stop Gato when he told them what he would do to you. Hope would make them wish for things to change when he cut off your arms.'

'Hope is useless by itself. You should know that by now Kaiza.'

Naruto did not let his thoughts be heard or vocalize them to the man he had named the Vicarius of Nami no Kuni. He didn't need to tell Kaiza any of it because the man should know how useless hope really could be when he wasted away for a week in the cellar of the thug's hideout. He should know how useless it was to rely on people, untrained and undisciplined, to do anything but hope someone else does something. Kaiza knew how unreliable the people of Nami no Kuni really were even if he would never admit it.

His hopes would be dashed then.

"Interesting name you chose for it Kaiza." His only comment was towards the name of the bridge. "Ever consider changing it to something else?"

He would need to talk him into naming it something less insulting to the Uzumaki Empire. The Great Naruto Bridge had a nice ring to it after all.

"FIRST! MOVE!" The shout of the Legate reached the camp as the First of his personal century rushed into the ring of embers that were once mighty fires before the Legate himself burst through the foliage. "ALL OF YOU FORM RANKS, NOW!"

"HOO!" The soldiers of the Uzumaki Empire's Orange Legion did not like Sasuke Uchiha but they respected him as Legate so followed his orders. Four centuries worth of soldiers complied and he fell into the center of the line with his shield and sword held at the ready.

"Take a century and wrap around us, hit them from the side on my order!" Sasuke shouted orders to the centurion in charge of his personal century and one hundred clones rushed to follow the centurion and the Legate turned to another centurion. "When they strike, move the second wing to box them in."

"ARMS!" Swords were drawn from sides near the front of the formation of shields and flesh and bows were notched further back as clones late to follow the order rushed into the rear of the formation. "WHATEVER HAPPENS, NO ONE IS TO FALL BACK!"

"HOO!" The Orange Legion did not ever run. They would show the Legate why the Uzumaki Empire could stand strong with its lands watched by their vigilant eyes, guarded with their shields and swords, and forever directing the will of many to what it needed. Praetor's dream was their dream. He would not fall back. They would not fall back.

'Naruto is going to kill me if I lose here.' Sasuke's grip tightened on the hilt of his blade, his shield shook ever so slightly before the Uchiha glared his arm into submission to his will. Red and black eyes locked onto the world of darkness he had ventured into far too deeply before he steadied himself.

"ARTILLERY!"

"HOO!"

The order was a strange one to issue without any enemy in sight but all those not in the first two rows of the formation either drew back their bows or arched back to throw pilum forward. Both projectiles had explosive tags tied to them and would serve the same purpose.

"FIRE!"

"HOO!"

The forest the Orange Legion's Third Cohort had made camp in front of were torn away without pause in the resulting bombardment. Splinters turned into deadly shrapnel slammed into the steel of the shields that held without moving or denting. In that moment, they were not individual but one. One stood against the bombardment of shrapnel. One refused to give any ground to it. One turned back into many once the shrapnel had been averted and now the Orange Legion merely waited for what had disturbed the Legate into a panic.

"Kill them!" Four centuries of the Third Cohort stood at the ready. Four hundred men held their swords and shields at the ready in the front and notched arrows in the rear of the formation. Four hundred soldiers held the line when what had to be a thousand bandits slammed against their shields.

"FIRST, PUSH!" At the order of the Legate, the wall of steel advanced with a shout from the clones that held it together with the strength they possessed not an individual but a single thing in that moment. Swords lunged forward from their sides and pass the shield to draw the blood of the filth they battled against. "PUSH!"

"HOO!" The wall of steel advanced again, the fangs of the Orange Legion lashing out with a thirst for blood that would find itself quenched with that of the bandit's before them. Shields threw more off their feet, threw them into the masses of filth behind them, and cast them back as the Third Cohort could not be stopped. They advanced and the bandits threw themselves against them in a mad fury. They met disciplined ranks that slaughtered them as easy as cattle.

Not a single clone ever took a step back. Hesitation was not a thing in the heat of battle. Retreat was not an option. The line would hold. The line would advance. Death would claim their foes without an end in sight.

The Legate was with them at the front and his blade never seemed to stop moving. His shield acted almost as a beacon for wave after wave of filth to charge towards him and make futile attempts to kill the man they blamed for their stranglehold on Nami no Kuni being shattered. They wanted him to pay with blood.

"You think you can come to the Legate unchallenged?" A centurion cleaved through one when he decided to lunge towards Sasuke. His blade was death as it descended and the filth below him did not rise. He turned back into the line and from then on watched the Legate's blind spot as he fell to the heat of battle. All who carried with them the dream of Praetor eventually fell to the lust for blood battle spawned among the Legion but core discipline remained. The arms bearing the blade may shake with excitement but the shield arm remained steady.

The line did not break.

"PILUM!" His voice reached them over the screams of the dying and the roar of the Legion as they took the price they had deemed the bandits must pay for their presence in Waves. His shield joined the others as a solid wall of steel. The second row advanced, their shields joining the first and a wall of steel proved impassable to the bandits that threw themselves against it. Their swords ripped through flesh and left them to die against the steel of the Orange Legion's shields.

"HOO!"

The Legate's command was followed as another bombardment was unleashed by the strong arms of the Orange Legion's Third Cohort. The mad charge of the bandits had ruined them before the battle had even began as the Orange Legion would never fall to such trash. The Legate pushed forward and the lines pushed forward with them. Another wave of pilum, these normal deadly projectiles, soared over the head of the soldiers of the Third Cohort and once again ripped apart the ranks of the bandits.

'It's time.' Sasuke pulled back ever so slightly and the blade of his sword crashed against his shield. It was heard when a dozen clones took up the same call before rejoining the battle in full force. A beacon was pressed into his hand as his sword went to his side. He flung it into the air and it blazed with enough light to outshine the sun for the briefest of moments.

"CENTURY CHARGE!" One voice called out.

"HOO!" One hundred voices answered.

From the side came a hundred blades that ripped apart the unaware bandits that continued to break upon the shields of the Legion like water on rock. Almost immediately, a bloody path was opened when another barrage of artillery ripped apart the bandits in mass on the other side. A century swept out from the line and joined Sasuke's personal century on a parallel attack on the other side. The battle had now truly transformed into nothing but a slaughter of filth.

"Legate, there is a message for you from Praetor." Once the bandits had truly been shattered and two centuries marched forth to finish them off for good, Sasuke was approached by the centurion Naruto had placed in charge of the camp when he discovered he had left.

"Out with it then." Sasuke sat down at the dead embers of the main fire, his bloody sword leaning against the log he sat on and his blood smeared shield propped up by the log at his side. "I think I can correctly guess what he's told you to tell me."

"Praetor ordered his words be repeated as they were spoken. 'Cease your advance. Withdraw to camp. Await my appearance'." The centurion's blue eyes locked with red and black and Sasuke saw something within them that he couldn't quite place. "You are not to leave the camp until Praetor arrives. The Third Cohort has orders to keep you here by force if it is seen as necessary."

"Of course you are." Sasuke sighed as he pulled his helmet off his head and sat it down on the log next to him. "I won't be going anywhere anytime soon centurion. If you so wish to do so go inform Praetor that I await his judgment for my rash and foolish actions before the embers of the bonfire."

"I shall Legate." The centurion fist covered his armored heart and Sasuke mirrored the salute from his seated position.

As the centurion left him to his thoughts, Sasuke considered the day more of a victory than anything else. He had commanded the Third Cohort in the successful and complete eradication of the bandits that made the mistake to roam the lands claimed by the Uzumaki Empire, his casualties against such filth were relative low, and dawn had broken after most of the land had been claimed by the Third. There was more than one thing to be proud of in the achievements of the Orange Legion in Nami no Kuni. Victory belonged to the Legion, its Legate, and Praetor this day.

No battles had been lost in the great campaign through Nami no Kuni. None of the bandits had managed to break the lines of the Third Cohort and none remained in large enough numbers to ever rally again. The full sweep of Nami no Kuni would be left to whatever Cohort of the Legion Naruto ended up assigning to the newest lands of the Uzumaki Empire.

"I at least kept my promise somewhat." Sasuke looked up at the sky above him and took in the warm rays of the sun. "Dawn breaks on a new day in the Land of Waves. The day the Orange Legion claimed it for his Uzumaki Empire."

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AN: So, how was it all?

Review responses now:

dementia found paranoia: I...I'm going to be talking to Magneto. I may need his helmet. That's VERY close to my plan.

THE 7TH DEMON OF RAZGRIZ: Thanks, I hoped to bring humor and entertainment to my readers.

Donthedarkdragon26: I will probably be going back across the next few days to fix those grammar errors. Glad you enjoy the story by the way.

Lazymanjones98: You have asked and I have delivered more to you.

Shadowfire01: Trust me, the issue of love will come up. I won't spoil anything until then.

Guest: As mentioned above, I will be going through what I've posted and fixing any errors.

Sophie: He has brought into this a lot.

tastybigsexy: I'm glad I have brought forth a new idea for shadow clones and, believe it or not, there's actually a plan for why the Legion exist. Already written actually.

Reishin Amara: I am glad I have entertained you. And I almost forgot about the Madara bit...weird when it sort of inspired this.

Peace.


	6. The Struggle Called Hope!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Well, another double update because I want to get these chapters out rather quickly. 6 is something I want to set as the norm by the way. I feel it's roughly the amount I need to make my point in a chapter.

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"So…" Small talk was difficult between the civilian and the heavily armored Genin that sat together in the room. Neither had much to talk about and neither could find much to say to even broach a conversation. Neither had much of an idea what the other liked or a safe subject to talk about.

The Genin wanted to know about the situation in the Land of Waves from both a practical and personal standpoint. She had so far only been in the small house Tsunami and Inari inhabited with Tazuna and the still missing Kaiza and had no idea what the rest of Waves looked like under Gato. She knew that Naruto had spoken something about attacking the bandits running amok through the lands but couldn't even begin to fathom how bad it was. All she knew about the situation was a vague amount of information on Gato. He was a man that had become a shipping tycoon with his products moved all over the Elemental Nations through his massive fleet of trade ships. The Five Great Shinobi Nations were regularly under his employ as the number of Shinobi he had escort his caravans and fleets were nothing to laugh at. He was spoken of in only a positive light in the Academy books she had read about him. It summarized him up as a rich man who provided ample missions to any village he was in a partnership with. If a caravan were moving through Hi no Kuni than Shinobi from Konoha would guard it. If a caravan was moving through Kaze no Kuni, Sunagakure would be hired to protect it. Even if a caravan was moving through the mysterious Tetsu no Kuni, he would hire Samurai instead of relying on the Ronin one could pay for much cheaper. It was simply not a thing to call Gato a cruel man within any of the villages.

From what she had seen of Nami no Kuni from the state of the home and Tazuna's talks, the man was a monster. He employed an army of bandits to terrorize and bully Nami no Kuni into submission. Any attempt by the people to remove his stranglehold of the Land of Waves was met with lethal force if not torture beforehand. People were maimed, starved to death, thrown into rivers weighed down by rocks, their homes were burned with entire families still inside, and much worse. Gato himself roamed the streets from time to time with a group of Ronin that would kill at their pleasure, raze towns, and destroy anything of value. People were randomly taken from villages, sometimes entire villages in truth, as slaves and sold. They were shipped from place to place like the cargo Gato's shipping empire moved from place to place. If people resisted, Gato would have them tortured. If they continued to resist he would kill them. He was a monster who delighted in seeing the suffering he inflicted on the people without end and without hope of stopping him. He never stopped and would never stop his cruelty as long as he lived and as long as he still had power.

How he could hide such cruelty from Shinobi confused her to no end.

The Academy never told her things like that. Gato was mentioned positively in the mission reports they were assigned to read. He paid well and was seen as a valued man of integrity and standards. How then could he be so evil to do the things he'd done to Nami no Kuni?

"Those men that are outside…why do they all look alike?" Tsunami at last broke the silence between them. Her question was met with a short laugh from Sakura. She could explain what was really happening to the confused woman.

"Those are just clones Naruto made. He's one of my team members." Sakura waved her hand towards the door where several clones stood nearby inside. "He learned a Kinjutsu, a forbidden technique, called the Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. The Multiple Shadow Clone Technique is a simpler way of saying it." Tsunami seemed intrigued so Sakura continued even if she wasn't a fan of explaining how Naruto had come across the army that wouldn't leave her alone. The blue eyes across from them followed her every movement like always. "There's a normal version called just the Shadow Clone Technique that lets someone create several clones and an even simpler technique that's called the Bunshin no Jutsu or Clone Technique which just creates illusions to confuse an opponent. The Kinjutsu Naruto learned lets him creates hundreds or thousands of clones that would normally kill other people. He's not dead because he has a ridiculous amount of Chakra, some people even think he has more than some of the legendary Shinobi studied at the Academy at their prime." She paused. Her eyes fell to the sword she had resting on the ground in front of her. "After seeing some of the things he's pulled off recently, I agree with them."

"And he's only a student to your teacher?" Tsunami's voice carried with it a combination of both shock and fear. It was easy to find the cause of both as describing Naruto's feats and learning that he was only a Genin would surprise anyone. "How strong is that man outside?"

"He's the legendary Kakashi of the Sharingan so he's above any of us three. Even someone like Sasuke-kun." Unseen to Sakura, the expressions of the clones nearby darkened. Their hatred of the Legate grew as they heard the adoration in the voice of Sakura-chan. Only Praetor deserved such a thing from the lovely Sakura-chan. "Naruto doesn't even come close."

"Really?" Tsunami stared at her wide eyed before looking at the nearby clones before her body shook. "Shinobi really are terrifying."

"Not many of us are like that." Sakura would do her best to calm the woman in front of her. A client needed to be kept at ease above everything else. "Most aren't that bad or as strong as Kakashi-sensei and Naruto isn't as strong as you think. Creating so many Shadow Clones makes it that he doesn't have a lot of Chakra left. He's lucky he had enough to make the trip here."

"Ignorance does not look well on you Sakura-chan." One of the centurions she had come to realize had been assigned to watch her walked over to the two then. His blue eyes held a glimmer in them that she didn't want to recognize. "Praetor stands above all with his tremendous strength. The Legate bowed to him in the end, did he not?" His words didn't bring anything but annoyance from Sakura.

"As if." Sakura turned to Tsunami. She knew she had to continue now if she had gotten under his skin so easily. "Don't believe what they say by the way, Sasuke-kun is way stronger than Naruto any day of the week!"

"Hmph, as I said before Sakura-chan, ignorance does not look well on you." The centurion crossed his arms over his chest and his blue eyes turned to Tsunami. "Forgive Sakura-chan's words, she is still tired after such a long journey to this land and her mind is as exhausted as her body. She speaks falsities without knowing it."

"Tch, just get out of here already." Sakura pointed towards the door. "I didn't ask for you to come over here you know."

"If you wish for me to leave Sakura-chan, I shall." He offered her a brief salute before he turned on his heel and marched away. His anger was still palpable and Tsunami did not speak for several minutes after he had marched to his post at the door and exited the house.

A new centurion entered a few minutes later and stood guard at the door.

"They don't like this Sasuke boy much, do they?' Tsunami finally spoke and Sakura nodded.

"Naruto's always been jealous of how strong Sasuke-kun's been so his clones are the same." Sakura's eyes stayed focused on the wall in front of the two women. "He named Sasuke the Legate of this whole Orange Legion nonsense because he knows he'll probably fail at it all if he led them."

"Are you sure about that girly?" Tazuna was surprisingly not drunk as he came down the stairs. He was completely sober and looked to have freshly shaven.

"What are you talking about Tazuna-san?" Sakura's emerald eyes searched for the normal redness in Tazuna's eyes that marked a hangover but found none. The old man didn't bother with answering her as he went up to Tsunami and sat down next to her.

"I'll be leaving to work on the bridge soon. I'm heading off to make sure Kaiza's work hasn't all been ruined in the time I've been gone and he's been captured." Tazuna ran a hand over his freshly shaved face as he looked at Tsunami before clapping her on the shoulder. "Don't worry much about me if I don't come back. I'll be staying with a few of the workers overnight to make sure no one else comes and tries to wreck it. We'll scare the young punks off." He chuckled. "If they don't get the message and still try it, I'll give them a whooping and send them crying home to their mothers."

He rose before anything could be said in opposition and walked towards a pack leaned against the wall. His tools were inside it and he briefly opened it and checked it. His eyes moved from tool to tool and he snapped it close. He reached for it before suddenly snapping his fingers.

"I almost forgot about the tools I've got at the bridge!" He rose to his feet laughing again. "I'll leave these here for when that Naruto kid comes back with Kaiza." He looked back at Tsunami. "Tell him to stay and get some rest while this old man shows everyone how to really build the world's greatest bridge."

"I-I will." Tsunami dabbed at her eyes. "I hope you stay safe."

"I'll be fine." Tazuna moved to the door before pausing. He didn't turn around when he spoke. "When that kid shows back up, the blonde one the girl's been talking about for the past few minutes, tell him he's welcome to get a couple things from my room. They ain't much for what he's doing but I'm pretty sure he'll like what I've got up there."

"Please tell me it's not any of those magazines." Tsunami continued to dab at her eyes. "You know how much I hate it when you show off your collection to all your perverted friends."

"He wishes he could get such a great collection!" Tazuna laughed again, one hand extending out to the wall to support him as he nearly doubled over. "Those are for Inari when he starts growing up to be a real man! He'll be the envy of all his friends with those treasures!"

"Y-You're…" Tsunami suddenly rose. "I've got to go check on Inari." She hurried out the room and Sakura watched her go in confusion.

She was crying. Why?

"Remember to tell that Naruto kid about my room Sakura." Tazuna slowly rose back up. Sakura offered a noise of assent as she rose from her seat and went to go after Tsunami. "Leave my daughter to a bit of time with her boy. She'll be back after I'm gone."

"You must be really perverted to make her cry like that." Sakura looked on with disapproval at the old man about to leave. "If you weren't my team's client I would be showing you why you shouldn't say things like that to someone like Tsunami-san." She brought one armored fist up and the man only laughed as he turned back to the door.

"You really crack me up sometimes girl." Tazuna walked to the door and rose a hand up in farewell. "Don't bother waiting for me. I've got a job to do and won't be back until it's finished."

"Whatever." Sakura rolled her eyes as she returned to her seat.

"Tazuna-san." The centurion at the door did not let him pass once he stepped up to it. He removed his helmet and placed it under his arm as he extended his hand. He offered the man in front of him an odd grin that would look more on place on a man with several decades more experience than the clone's young face showed. "Allow me to escort you to our perimeter."

"If you want to, I'm not letting you slow me down." Tazuna offered the clone a grin as he laid a hand on his armored shoulder instead of accepting the offered hand. The centurion only nodded before turning towards the door and, after sparing one last look towards Sakura-chan, left after him. The door was sealed shut behind him by the Blossom Guards that resided outside near it.

The two met a path already created by the Blossom Guards that stood outside the home. They had assembled into two forces, one on either side of the path and each saluted the centurion and Tazuna as they passed with their swords meeting their broad shields. The clang of metal meeting metal was loud enough to dim their words to all but each other.

"You are not a wise man."

"A young punk like you can say that all you want. Words like that don't bother me much."

"You are surprisingly brave as well."

"Now that I can appreciate." The bridge builder chuckled.

"Among the Legion, there is a fact we all know to be true. The specter known as death marches with us at all times. Side by side we go forth together into the unknown."

"You kids are weird then. Do you really all have to be so morbid?"

"What would you have us believe then?"

"It's obvious kid." They neared the border of the gathered Blossom Guards. "Hope."

"Hope?"

"Yeah. That bridge I'm building is the perfect example. Do you think I'm building it because I worship death, that I want to die or something crazy like that? No. I'm building it because I've got hope and I'm banking it on that bridge. Call it an investment even. Everyone who's helped me build that bridge has got hope for our bit of the world being a better place once we finish it. We've all got hope that the world changes into something better than now when we finish that bridge. We all believe that the world becomes a better place with every new board we put down. We all believe the world gets better with every inch we move forward. Every nail, every piece of that bridge is another bit of progress towards the future we all want to see, the place we want our families to have when we're gone."

"And what has that hope you've held accomplished?"

"You're a real little smartass, know that kid." Tazuna chuckled good-naturedly at the centurion's comment. "As for what's hope gotten me? For one, it's gotten that bridge out of my old head. Two, instead of dying with me I've gotten that bridge and everything it stands for out to the people I'm building it for. Everybody in Waves is banking on that bridge to bring a better tomorrow and I'm going to get as much of it done today as I can before…well before I get tired." He chuckled. It was too loud for either of them and tapered off rather quickly.

"Where are the arms of hope then? Where are the workers of hope? Where is hope if you rely on it so much? Or is it nothing but a delusion you hold onto. What is hope capable of sending to assist you beyond your fantasy already born of it?"

"Bah! As if I need more workers when I've got these two arms right here!" The old man rose his arms and flexed, the centurion having to admit that he had an impressive physique for a man his age. "I've laid down half the damn frame myself and I'll keep doing it until I've got it all done! And once it is, Gato will see what hope can do when that bridge breaks his stranglehold on Nami no Kuni."

"You are a strange man Tazuna."

They neared the edge of the formation. Both came to a stop as the centurion turned to look at the man that would walk without him down a lonesome road. The forest around the may have been cleared but it still shadowed the path ahead. The centurion turned back to the path and pressed a finger to his ear.

"Century, on me."

"HOO!" Distantly he heard the call that answered him as he removed his finger and turned to Tazuna once again.

"The Uzumaki Empire's Orange Legion does not march on hope." His statement was a simple fact. "We march to battle, to glory, and to death." No mocking was seen in the eyes of either as they met across the distance, neither refused the views of the other. They could disagree and they, as was silently decided, would use the bridge to find the answer. "Every step draws us closer to those three so intrinsically linked and draws us deeper into the unknown. We march to battle not for ourselves but for the Uzuamki Empire. We march not for our own glory but for the glory of Praetor. We march not for the death of Praetor but for our own." Blue eyes carrying an age that seemed both natural and unnatural locked with those of Tazuna. "Today, I shall march my men with you and not with hope."

"If you march with me, you've got to be marching with hope." Tazuna looked out at the path before him. "I'm walking with the same hope that everyone in Nami no Kuni's got in their souls. Not a single one of us want Gato to keep his grip on our land forever."

"Then you are in luck." The centurion settled his helmet over his head as he heard the steps of his soldiers approaching. "My century will march to see the glory of Gato's hold destroyed over the lands of the Uzumaki Empire. The Orange Legion has already marched with death with bandit filth already been exterminated and now we shall finish the task set before us with his head."

"I like you kid." Tazuna settled his hat on his head. "Your boss isn't too bad either."

"I shall have you speak those words to Praetor himself then Tazuna."

"We'll see about that."

As one, they took the first steps into the unknown with the century following behind them.

* * *

AN: Opinion on the Legion so far? On Team 7 as a whole? Anything that stands out so far? Anything that needs to be changed?


	7. Praetor Arrives At Camp!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full Chapter Title: Praetor Arrives At Camp! The Orange Legion Is On The March Again?

Well...here's number two (chapter 7).

* * *

"It'll be anytime now." Kakashi spoke to himself more than anyone else. He continued his watch from the trees where he crouched within and awaited the moment the mission became a mission. "He'll be here anytime now."

"Praetor is advancing." The voice came from next to him, a centurion that had positioned himself in the trees with Kakashi. The clone pulled a hand away from his ear and blue eyes locked with the sole visible one of the Shinobi. "He is bringing Kaiza with him."

"Of course he is." Despite himself, the Jonin couldn't help but grin beneath his mask. "I never doubted him for a second."

"None should doubt the glory of Praetor." The centurion spoke no more to Kakashi, the Jonin more than fine to merely sit in silence among the leaves and branches around him as he awaited the inevitable.

"Praetor!"

"HOO!"

As one, the assembled Blossom Guards rose from their formations and turned to face the Praetorians escorting the one who would see the Uzumaki Empire flourish across the lands. The man with him, one most of the Legion now knew to be Kaiza, looked on in shock at the vast numbers arrayed around the widened clearing to his house. His thoughts were going mad as he tried to piece together the strength of the boy in front of him, younger than him by a significant margin yet powerful beyond his wildest imagination.

"If you're not a Jonin yet…what can your teacher do?" The man could only ask such a question to try and understand exactly what kind of monsters Shinobi truly were. Sure, he had heard all the stories of the ones like Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju making a valley but he always thought that was something people blew out of proportion. He heard about a guy named the Yellow Flash who made his name from war and being fast enough to wipe out entire armies but he again thought it was just a fluke. He even heard about how a kid killed an entire clan of ninja just because he wanted to but all those things had to be fake, they all had to be exaggerations about what Shinobi could really do. No one could make valleys, no one could take on armies by himself, and a child couldn't kill hundreds of people in a single night.

He had thought he understood how things worked.

Now? Now his opinion was vastly different. If one kid, one of the lowest rank at just a Genin, could create an entire army than what could a Jonin do? What could the Kage do? What could all those S-Rank Missing-nin do to get such massive bounties on their heads? How many monsters lived in the world that he still didn't know about? These thoughts and more swirled in his mind but Naruto began talking and disrupted them.

"Silver Fang may face a portion of my forces before he is inevitably destroyed but my clash with him was a thing of great tragedy and greater glory." Naruto's blue eyes shined with pride, the stunned awe of Kaiza a thing of beauty to him. It was all merely a sign for how truly incredible his great Orange Legion was and the grand Uzumaki Empire the men within it served. His awe spoke of what he would find when he looked in the eyes of those who doubted his dream, who doubted his men's true strength, those who believed he was nothing but talk and boasts would learn the error of their ways when he unleashed his forces like they were presented now. "This is hardly my full muster either. I've spread the portion of men I brought with me across your lands with my Legate. I'll be speaking with him soon and order a detachment to march back with us to show you how powerless a man like Gato has become in lands ruled by the Uzumaki Empire and protected by its Orange Legion."

"Shinobi are terrifying." Kaiza could only offer a rueful smile and shake of his head as he stepped forward and looked towards the small home surrounded by ring after ring of men identical to the blonde he had been talking with for so long. "Mind if I go and see my family Praetor?"

"You have not yet fully assumed your role as my Vicarius of Nami no Kuni. There is no need to be so formal Kaiza." Naruto stepped forward, his Praetorians opening up the formation around him fully and letting him pass through them without issue. A clone marched forward from the house and stopped in front of Naruto and offered him what Kaiza recognized as the standard greeting of Naruto's troops, a fist over his heart. "You may do whatever you wish. One of my centurions I have stationed here will be the one to answer any questions you may have while I deal with something else."

"Going out again already?" Kaiza seemed anxious to approach his home but curiosity got the better of him. "What are you planning to do now, go off and rule the world?"

"Hmmm, that is the plan." Naruto offered a grin before he vanished from sight.

"Well, I can get behind that." Kaiza's smile didn't leave his face as he turned and walked towards the clones that Naruto had guard his home. "Now…it's time to face my wife." Kaiza was not afraid of Gato and his thugs but his sweet Tsunami terrified him to no end. She would be glad to have him back but he had a feeling she was more than angry at him. She was most likely pissed at everything he had done from continuing to work on the bridge to refusing to even listen to Tazuna's offer to stay behind and let him go to Konoha for the Shinobi. "She is going to be so angry with me."

The soldiers moved aside as one unit, sealing the formation behind him as he walked past them and Naruto's Praetorians remained at the front while someone began barking out orders about a camp. He eventually stepped too far away to hear what they were saying but he had gotten the gist of it all. They would be setting up a camp for Naruto to return to with his Legate and whatever troops he brought back with him. He actually found himself curious as to what numbers Naruto would be bringing back.

"You are nervous." A centurion had stepped out of the house to greet him, ten men spreading out around him and Kaiza and forming a half circle with their shields and swords held at the ready. "That is good." The centurion turned and knocked on the door. "The Uzumaki Empire shall be made great here if you keep such a thing close to your heart."

"What?" Kaiza could ask no more as the door was opened and he saw, for the first time in too long of a time, his wife and the boy that was his son no matter his blood.

"Tsunami! Inari!"

"Kaiza!"

"Dad!"

His smile was wide as he caught hold of the running Inari and lifted him into the air, holding the small boy and both had equal grins on their faces. Tsunami only smiled as she walked up to him. He set Inari down after holding him up for a moment longer and that was when she kissed him.

"I'm glad you're back, Kaiza." She smiled at him. Then she slapped him, her face suddenly grim. "Never do something so stupid again."

"I promise I won't." Kaiza didn't take offense to the strike. He had it coming after what he had put them all through. He smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her simply to hold her. "Where's the old man?"

Silence greeted him from Tsunami. It didn't even take him a moment to know what she was going to say. Her silence, the way she seemed to use him to support herself, everything screamed the truth he didn't want to hear. It screamed of only a terrible future that he thought he could somehow stop. He thought he could prevent anymore tragedy and despair from plaguing the small family he had found in Nami no Kuni.

He was wrong.

"He headed off to start working on the bridge."

"Damn that old drunk." He wanted to go but he couldn't. The thought of not going filled him with rage but the idea to just stay here, to stay here while Tazuna willingly went to his death was enough to make him want to vomit with his disgust. "I can't let him do this."

He wanted to pull away but Tsunami held him back.

"Kaiza…he wanted to go alone." She did not let him go. He couldn't let her go either. Holding her let him remember why he had to stay. Holding her, seeing Inari so happy, both made him want to stay because he had to just like Tazuna had to go. He had to stay for them just like he had to leave for them. Tazuna wanted them happy. He wanted Nami no Kuni free nearly as much.

"Damn you old man."

"You know…I can go get him if you want." Sakura had silently appeared behind the three reunited family members. She had heard everything. She wanted to hit herself for everything she had said to the man before he left. She felt like such a fool. No, she felt worse than any fool.

She had insulted him when he had walked off to die. He cared for the people who lived in Nami no Kuni enough to not even consider running anymore. He knew he would die the moment he went to the bridge and didn't bother with thinking up a way to escape death. He wanted to put his faith in Kaiza, he put his faith in all the people of Nami no Kuni to finish building the bridge.

"Really?" It wasn't Kaiza who spoke, it was Inari. He was suddenly in front of her, ignoring the way the hands of the two centurions with her fell to their weapons as he grabbed hold of her at the waist. "You can bring back grandpa?"

"Of course I can." Sakura knelt down and offered him a smile. "Naruto gave me my Blossom Guards to fight…and a Kunoichi from Konoha never fails her mission." She held out her hand to the small child. "What do you say Inari, want to give me my mission?"

"Yeah!" He took her offered hand and Sakura grinned at him.

"Alright then." She smiled even if she wanted to do anything but this but she knew she didn't have a choice after what she had said. She never wanted any of this to happen when all she had wanted was some privacy for once from the clones that constantly hounded her.

'I wish I didn't have to act like such a bitch with those clones around.'

"Legate Sasuke." Naruto stood before the Uchiha. His Praetorians stood at his back, the centurion in charge of them at the head and Sasuke's own century was assembled behind him. The difference was that their weapons were at their sides and each of them had fallen to a single knee before Praetor. The Uchiha remained standing with his arms clasped behind him. His weapons were the first things taken upon Naruto's arrival to camp. His helmet rested at his feet. The rest of the centurions stood on either side with their century standing at attention behind them. "You have brought glory to the Orange Legion by disobeying my orders."

"I did." Sasuke's red and black eyes did not leave the twin blue abyss that Naruto's own had become as he stared at the Uchiha. "I await judgement from you, Praetor." One hand came from his back to his chest and he saluted Naruto.

"I should strip you of your rank. I should even kill you for marching into the unknown as you did." Naruto's words brought forth no response from the Uchiha. He could only wait for the inevitable judgement that the blonde would pass on him. "I should have you executed publicly for such a thing." His hand rested on the hilt of the sword at his side. "I could demand you fight before the Legion you sought to disgrace with defeat, without arms and without sight. A blind fool stumbling through darkness would fit you perfectly Legate." At his words, the centurions of the centuries around him stepped forward. Their hands fell to the weapons at their backs and each looked to Praetor. "You know the dagger all centurions carry, correct Legate Sasuke?" Naruto was not met with words. "Answer me now."

"Yes Praetor." Sasuke's eyes did not leave Naruto's own. "It is not given a name because it has not yet drawn the blood of all those foolish enough to stand in your path to glory and make enemy of your glorious Legion."

"Yes." Naruto stepped forward and the centurion at the head of his Praetorians followed each of his steps. "Every centurion carries this unnamed dagger so that they may bring glory even in death. It has not yet drawn blood of any kind so I have not given it a name. There is a ghost of one through." Naruto's hand left his blade and settled at the hilt of the weapon at his back. "Some of my more unruly centurions have seen fit to call it a name I see some value in now. Senjusatsu. Thousand Armed Murder."

A silver of the blade was exposed to the world in that moment. It promised death if it was to be fully drawn. Its thirst for blood would be fulfilled before it was placed away again. Nothing could stop it. Nothing would stop it. Blood would fall. Flesh would be cut. Death would come from the blade parched of it and it's thirst would at last be quenched.

His hand fell away as swiftly as it gripped the handle.

"It will go unnamed for today." Naruto abruptly turned and the orange cloak at his back flared out behind him. "Your command will remain Legate Sasuke. Your full power will be reinstated at a later date but until then you shall command none I do not directly assign under your command. For now, until this campaign is over with, the men in this camp are yours to command. You're power shall remain limited. The men do not leave the camp unless I order it. You may assign drills to run alone unless we fall under attack. You shall provide counsel while I plan the counterattack. The enemy will be crushed and pursued by my Legion if it deemed necessary. If such predictions come to pass, the centurions of the Third Cohort of my Legion will take orders from either myself or my Praetorian centurion." The centurion stepped forward. "He is named Praefectus Castrorum of this camp. If you disobey him, he may kill you if he so wishes."

"Am I understood?"

"Of course Praetor." Sasuke fell to a knee and hate shined within the Sharingan his eyes remained locked in.

"Good. Begin training spars at your leisure within the next thirty minutes."

Naruto departed to his tent without another word. The newly named Praefectus Castrorum did not spare the Uchiha a single glance as his focus turned instead to the organization of the camp he now resided over. Sasuke remained where he had been when Naruto dismissed him, unmoving as rage consumed his entire being.

'Uzumaki…' His teeth were tightly clenched and his hands balled into fists at his side. He wanted to do nothing more than to reject this punishment but did not have the power to do so against Naruto and the vast force before him, a force he had once controlled with great authority. He was too weak to fight such numbers alone. He remained too weak to do anything to prevent his punishment. 'Uzumaki…' He still didn't have enough hate. He didn't have enough power. 'Uzumaki!'

"Clear your eyes Legate as they seem to be clouded by insanity." His centurion stepped up to him, his arms crossed over his armored chest with his sword at his side. "The Third will not stand to see you die of such a vile thing but neither will any of us stand such disrespect towards Praetor and his glorious dream."

"Tch." The response hardly counted as such as the Uchiha rose from where he had knelt and collected his helmet from where I rested on the ground. It laid underneath his arm as he turned to the centurion and hateful red and black locked with the same blue eyes that had sentenced him to his current fate. "Order the Legion to begin training by century. The First and Tenth of the Third will start. Second and Ninth will follow an hour later. Third and Eight, Fourth and Seventh, and Fifth and Sixth will follow in that order for every additional hour that passes. When they finish, send them to rest, once the next group arrives send those waiting-" He stopped himself.

He no longer held the authority to say such a thing.

"I believe the centurions of the Third will wish to see you before you depart from Nami no Kuni, Legate." The centurion spoke no more. He had left and with him the century that was supposedly Sasuke's own rose to their feet and filed away after his flowing orange cape.

"Bastard." It was a more vocal response to what he was feeling than before. He retrieved his weapons, his sword hanging from his side and his shield strapped to his arm, and moved towards the edge of the camp. He would take a watch and clear his head of the hate he felt at the moment.

"You should know to watch yourself Legate." Two of Naruto's Praetorians stood in his path and he felt more than saw two others approach him from behind. Their helmets were off, sitting on a table nearby and not one of the clones let their hands fall away from the hilt of their swords. "We have sworn to protect Praetor with our lives and we are always watching."

"The Sharingan sees more than your eyes ever will." His retort was simple, a statement born of both pride and facts. He had known the position of the hidden Praetorians now behind him long before they had sprung from it and manufactured this confrontation. "Do you want to see what else it can do?"

"You wish to spar?" The Praetorian looked surprised even if only for a moment. The clone quickly brought his expression back under control and offered a grin to the Uchiha. "You wish to battle me?"

"I wish to battle the four of you." Sasuke's grin matched those of the four Praetorians. "As Legate, it is my duty to ensure the Orange Legion's standards are met. The Praetorians of course must be held to an even greater standard than all others for they stand with Praetor in battle."

"You would not like the outcome."

"Yes. You would probably sob with a splinter from the training swords." The narrowing of blue eyes did not change the taunting light in his eyes. "True steel is the only option if you hold such a fear."

"We accept." Four voices spoke as one and they went to retrieve their helmets and shields and Sasuke's grin became far less mocking and more honest, at least at the moment. He had gotten something out of this, he had lost much of his power over the Legion while the Third remained in Nami no Kuni but the battle he now faced was worth it. The four Praetorians were no doubt highly skilled, well-coordinated, and motivated to leave him defeated at their feet. It was the best test to see how far he had come since his last spar with Naruto.

Word spread swiftly in the Orange Legion's Third Cohort. A crowd had gathered around the ring set aside for sparring of such a small degree and the four Praetorians entered behind the Legate of the Orange Legion. He rolled his shoulders as he turned once reaching the center. The four spread out into a line and with a bang their shields were raised and swords drawn from their sides with the song of steel. Sasuke did not follow their examples at the moment.

He settled his helmet over his head before drawing his sword with a shout. He rose his shield up and let the flat of his blade strike the solid metal that was his greatest defense. The Praetorians responded in time as they began a slow march forward. It was in unison, one foot moved forward for one and the other three followed. The width of their steps differed through, two in the center lagged behind the two on the outer edges of their formation. Sasuke stepped back as they approached, his Sharingan dancing from one to the next with no rhyme or reason to it. His gaze shifted abruptly from one side, to the center, to the other side. Right, center, left. Left, center right. Right, c-

He charged forward with a shout, his shield used like a ram to strike at the center right and the two shields clashed. He didn't remain for long. His sword lashed out, parrying the blow of the second Praetorians in the center and his eyes followed the left Praetorian as he moved to flank him. He shoved forward again before quickly disengaging and moved his shield to the right. A sword did not draw blood or scratch his armor as it was blocked by his shield before his blade once again lunged forward and clashed with the blade of the leftmost Praetorian as he surged forward. His own shield was used to break the clash of blades and Sasuke spun away, his shield coming close to his body as he brought his arm against it as he did so. He created distance for only a moment before he banged his sword on his shield and readied himself for a charge.

Two Praetorians, those on the left, answered his challenge for battle and their blades swung at him with intent to kill. His shield blocked the blows of both and both lunged forward with their own shields to no doubt throw him to the ground. Sasuke did not let them get the chance. He freed his arm of the shield but did not relinquish his hold entirely. He used the strap to drive the shield into the ground before he rolled to the side and around it. Their shields dislodged a spray of dirt when they upturned his own that neither allowed to impair them before the Legate was upon them. His sword clashed with one, his shield raised in defense before he swung out and turned it to the side. The blow missed as Sasuke leaned back to avoid it. He was nearly thrown onto his back when the shield filled his vision as it was thrown forward by the Praetorian. He darted around to the Praetorian's side and his sandal struck out at his exposed side and knocked him aside and into his fellow clone.

The soldier of the Orange Legion was batted to the side and to the ground by the shield of the other and the Legate was once again engaged. A shield met his blade and he did not stay in place long enough to be struck by the two Praetorians that approached him from behind. Their blades slashed only air as he backed up and held his sword out in front of him, the sharp point all the challenge his foes needed. The fallen Praetorian had risen to his feet at this point, holding his side as he glared at the Legate, and joined the other three.

Once again four stood against him and Sasuke's hands loosened and tightened their grip on the hilt of his weapon. He swallowed and darted forward. A solid wall met his charge but he did not expect to break through it for even a moment. His foot impacted the center of one of the shields and his second followed above it. He ran up the shields of the Praetorians in a suicidal maneuver. Four shields were moved away as the Praetorians folded their line into a tight box and four blades shot upwards to impale him upon his descent when he vanished.

His discarded shield took his place and the Praetorians broke their formation to avoid falling prey to any trap he had set with it. The Legate did not follow up with a counterattack from where he now rested on a single knee on the ground, his sword impaled next to him.

He only took a moment to breathe. In and out.

'Tiger. Ram. Monkey.' He brought one closed hand up to his mouth, two fingers raised.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Flames spewed forth from his open lips, a fireball surging through the air and aiming to incinerate the Praetorians that stood against him.

"Shields!" Four shields were rammed into the ground before all four fled back from them. Only their swords were now in their hands.

The fireballs crashed against the shields and washed over them. Flames licked at the ground, at the steel, it hungered to consume but could not. Sasuke did not bother with waiting for it to dissipate before he once again made use of his shield, he took its place and his sword rushed to meet those of his four foes with a grin.

"That is enough Legate Sasuke." Silently Praetor had approached the training grounds and amusement shined in his eyes as he took in the scene before him. The five combatants and the soldiers of his Legion observing the bout between his Legate and Praetorians had frozen and given him their undivided attention. All had fallen to a single knee, heads bowed in his presence, and saluted him in the customary manner of his Orange Legion with a clenched fist over their armored heart. "My Praetorians will return to their duties as you will yours."

"As you wish, Praetor." All five spoke together, bowing their heads as their armored hearts were covered by a closed fist.

The Legate's grin did not leave his face.

"Sakura-chan, I insist you return to the house!" The centurion continued speaking even if she ignored him. He followed her regardless of what he wanted her to do and the Blossom Guards followed after the two with some nervousness. They did not care about themselves but Sakura-chan marched into what could be only death for the best of the Orange Legion, perhaps even Praetor himself. None feared their own deaths but the idea of Sakura-chan joining them was enough to bring fear to their hearts.

Such failure would not even allow death as an avenue of escape from Praetor's wrath.

"Centurion Uzumaki and his men remain silent." A centurion near the two spoke up as he removed a finger from his ear. "We will not have anything the scouts do not provide for us."

"Curses." The centurion once again turned to Sakura. "I do not do this lightly." He drew his sword and placed himself in the way of the marching Sakura. "Return to the h-"

Sakura's emerald eyes glared at him and he was silenced. He felt incredibly, insignificantly small when looked upon by those eyes. He felt as if he was truly less than nothing. He felt as if he was a waste to even exist, a plague to the dream of Praetor. As he looked into the twin pools of furious emerald he felt worthless before such might. His sword fell to his side, his arm limp and his grip only maintained through instinct born of the intense training he had gone through for his rank. If not for his body's natural inclination to hold the blade he would not be able to do so.

"Get out of my way." She spoke only five words and he listened. His sword was wordlessly returned to his side as he stepped aside. As Sakura passed him he pressed a numb finger to his ear.

"Praetor."

" _I know already centurion."_ Naruto's grin was audible as he chuckled. _"Sakura-chan is marching to the drunk's aid I imagine?"_

"Yes Praetor. I was unable to stop her." The centurion remembered the abyss he had foolishly stared into and trembled. "She marches with her Blossom Guards."

" _Good. I shall assault from the opposite side with the majority of the Third Cohort. If Zabuza Momoichi truly is there then I shall have his head before this day is over with."_

"Your glorious leadership will see such a thing become reality Praetor."

" _Of course it shall, of course it shall. Regardless, I am issuing an order as of this moment Centurion Uzumaki. As always, you are not to allow Sakura-chan to come to harm. She is to be protected above all others on the battlefield. In addition, the Third on the other side of the bridge shall be alone. Keep your forces on the opposite side. We shall crush Momoichi and obtain great glory this day."_

"I shall eagerly do so Praetor."

'I'm not going to let someone die when I can stop it.' It was the thought that made Sakura move. It was that thought that allowed her not to tremble. It was the fact that she had been so self-absorbed to not see what was right in front of her that motivated her to take each new step. She would make sure she didn't fail the mission Inari gave her. She would be sure to bring his grandfather home to him no matter what.

Far away from the centurion and Sakura, a mist slowly drew across the water. Soon it would engulf the bridge that an old man worked on and a dark chuckle abounded within it. Soon, so very soon, the demon would be unleashed. Soon death would come.

* * *

AN: Well, didn't this get interesting?

Also: Quick reply here.

King of Konoha: I'm happy you've enjoyed Orange Legion so far. As for Sakura? Her status will be cleared up within the next two chapters I post. Trust me.

Peace.


	8. Team 7 Reporting In!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full Chapter Title: Team 7 Reporting In! The Escort Mission Was...!

4 this time. That's all.

* * *

"Man, can you believe what that Uzumaki kid's done still?" Two Chunin leaned outside the guard post that they seemed to eternally man day in and day out. "That clone army of his is kind of freaky to see everywhere even when he's gone. How much Charka does he have if he can even walk after that?"

"I don't know, I'm just glad the kid's on our side. Those are Kage level reserves at minimum."

"Yeah…"

"I still think the Fourth could beat him if he really wanted to. What's one army to another, you know?"

"He just wiped out that Iwa battalion right? How are you so sure he can take out that kid's whole army?"

"He wiped it out by himself so I'm pretty sure he can handle some untrained kid and his clones too."

"Whatever you say Izumo."

Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane returned silently to their duties a moment or so later after the conversation between the two Shinobi had ended. Both sent a quick glance to the still as statue hundred clones of Naruto Uzumaki that had been standing at the gate since they had begun their guard shift a few hours ago. It was unnerving just how still the hundred clones had been. Curious kids had raced up to them, made faces, some had run between their ranks, and others had nearly begun to attack them before they were hastily pulled away. The blue eyes of the one they knew to be the clone in charge of the others (the Hokage's briefing referred to them as centurions) was also enough to send them scurrying away. More of the clones labeled centurions in the aforementioned briefing had approached every hour or so with a hundred times as many clones with them as they were them. Both were lucky it never surpassed two.

Beyond the all but statues with them, the mission was as normal as always. Check in a few merchants, check out a few merchants, check any caravans heading inside, sign off on any Shinobi leaving the village, and more of the usual. The clones never spoke or moved during it all. They were arrayed in four rows, two on each side of the street, and faced in towards the street. The centurion responsible for them remained standing just outside the gates with his eyes focused towards the path to the village.

"What are they w-" Izumo was interrupted.

"PRAETOR IS RETURNING! PRESENT YOURSELVES!"

"HOO!"

The clang of metal on metal resounded through the plaza just inside the village from the gates and the hundred clones moved at last. They assembled into ten rows, all but blockading the streets as the centurion in charge of them strode to the front of the formation. The clones, as one, shifted their helmets from under their arms to over their heads and adjusted their grip on their shields. Their free hands fell down to the blades at their sides and grabbed hold of the hilts.

"What's going on with those guys?" Shikamaru paused in his walk, glancing behind him at the source of the noise and seeing the Kage Bunshin had at last moved from where they had been as still as statues. His curiosity was piqued no matter what happened now and he turned to his Jonin sensei, one Asuma Sarutobi. "Asuma-sensei, do you mind letting us see what this is all about?"

"We'll take a vote." Asuma took a drag from his near ever present cigarette before speaking again. "Everyone in favor of sticking around, raise your hands." He closed his eyes and preemptively rubbed his temple to try to beat back a future headache before opening them.

Three hands were in the air.

Ino had hearts in her eyes at the thought of seeing 'Sasuke-kun' in a uniform.

Shikamaru wanted to see what else Naruto's clones would do after their last encounter.

Choji was partially curious and partially just putting his hand up because Shikamaru did.

'Ino-Shika-Cho really does stick together.' He couldn't help but let out a good natured sigh before he took another deep breath of his cigarette.

"It looks like I'm completely outvoted." He pointed down the street where a number of benches were placed near the gate. They actually gave a perfect view of the Orange Legion facing the gate. "We can go watch from over there if you really want to."

"Alright, let's go then." Shikamaru earned a raised eyebrow as he led the way over before the Sarutobi merely shook his head in amusement.

'What motivates a Nara to lead the way? Too much curiosity.'

"Gai-sensei, look!" Nearby, Team Gai had been waiting just as long as the Orange Legion's troops. Maito Gai, the leader of the team, had heard of Kakashi's imminent return to the village and couldn't help but await his rival and his team's first real mission. Reports from ANBU were clear, Team 7 hadn't actually taken a real mission until now thanks to the clones doing all the D-Ranks for them. Their first mission had been a C-Rank assignment to Nami no Kuni. Gai believed it was an escort mission.

"I see." Strangely enough, since they had begun to observe the Orange Legion, Gai had been far from his usual self. He hadn't been loud once and had instead been observing the clones before him with an intelligence rarely displayed as it was now. A Shinobi does not rise to the ranks of Jonin with pure skill. A Shinobi does not contest with Kakashi Hatake, a natural genius if there ever was one, through sheer strength. A man does not obtain the heights of the Green Beast of Konoha without a great mind bonded with skill. "It looks like Team 7 is coming back. They must be the welcoming party."

"So Naruto's coming back?" Tenten had picked up on the slack. Her voice overflowed with excitement and she seemed to nearly be jumping up and down from where the four man cell waited on the rooftops. "He's going to be back, right Gai-sensei?"

"Indeed he is. Neji can confirm it, can you not my pupil?" Three sets of eyes turned to the Hyuga to catch a glimpse of the deactivating Byakugan. He was silent for only a moment before offering a nod and received three very different responses.

"YOSH!" Lee was excited as always but for a number of reasons. "At last I may see my rival and Sakura-chan!"

"I can't wait to ask him where he got such amazing weapons!" Tenten was excited to see the man behind the weapons of the Orange Legion.

'I wonder how you fared, Kakashi.' Gai was contemplative strangely enough. He had no ill will towards the Orange Legion, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, or the Jonin in charge of the three Genin. He merely had many questions and wished for answers. One of them was of course how well his rival's first passed Genin team measured up to his own and another was more difficult to answer. He had seen Kakashi after the Bell Test to pass Team 7 and unlike the others present, with even Lord Hokage included in such a grouping, had truly seen him for what he was in that moment with a glance.

Kakashi was tired. He masked it well, no doubt from his days in ANBU Black Ops, but he was exhausted. The level of devastation he had unleashed was nothing to scoff at but it was far from the legendary Jonin's true capabilities. The Orange Legion had pushed Kakashi to his physical limits instead of the near mythical heights of his Chakra Reserves. He had enough Chakra left to battle the entire night if he had to but his body was running on near fumes. The Jonin had most likely collapsed after the meeting when he had vanished. He had slept the day away and been late to the first official meeting of Team 7 for a good reason.

Gai was curious as to how Naruto had pushed his rival to such limits. How had a Genin pushed a Jonin to his near physical limits in the end? What had happened at Training Ground 7 while everyone else was nearly consumed by the panic Naruto's marching clones had brought forth?

It was this and more that had created his contemplative manner as of late. His mind had been wracked with reasoning that made sense but he knew he was missing something of vital importance. He could understand what had happened with it but without it he would forever remain in the dark. He needed to learn it from someone present. He needed to learn it from Kakashi.

He shook his head to clear it. He had caught sight of the upright silver hair of his rival and leaped off the rooftop to meet him and find his answers.

"KAKASHI!" His exuberance had returned. He raced down the path to his rival and to the answers to his many questions.

Elsewhere, hidden in the shadows, a dozen ANBU trusted by the Hokage watched from the trees as the marching column came into sight. The first thing they noticed was obvious. It was reduced to only a hundred of the clones that had been labeled Naruto's Praetorians, his bodyguards in short. None of the clones given to the Haruno girl, her Blossom Guard, were present anymore. Another thing was their positioning. Kakashi walked at a sedate pace behind the three Genin with his arms behind his head, nothing abnormal about that, and the Genin walked ahead of him in one row. The Uchiha was on the left, Sakura was in the middle, and Naruto was on the right.

There was also the incredible amount of power pouring out of the Uzumaki seemingly every second. It was enough to give an inexperienced sensor a near migraine if they focused too much and already one of the newer ANBU had to shake his head.

'What is that?' Asuma didn't let any of his shock show on his face as he spotted Team 7 stop just outside the gates and Naruto stepped forward. Kakashi was lazily talking with an energetic as always Gai as the blonde stepped up to the centurion standing before the gate.

"Kneel before your Praetor!" The centurion feel to a knee and the shadow clones arrayed in front of Naruto followed his example. Each planted their shield into the ground and dropped to a knee with their heads bowed and the hilt of their swords still clenched in their hands. Only the centurion covered his armored heart with his fist. "We have awaited your return Praetor."

"I'm glad to see that my Orange Legion has not fallen in my absence." As Naruto spoke, Sasuke silently approached behind him and stood at his right side. The Uzumaki's Praetorians arrayed themselves in a formation identical to the other clones just flipped in what direction they faced. "Now, where is the Praefectus Castrorum I gifted with command of my glorious Legion?"

"He eagerly awaits your return in the main camp Praetor." The centurion had not raised his head once he had bowed it. Naruto looked over at the curious villagers and more obvious Shinobi present before he turned to the Uchiha behind him.

"Once our meeting with the Hokage is done, I expect you to spread the word of what has happened to the rest of my Legion." His words were whispered but they did not need to be concealed. The information was not that difficult to acquire and both knew it as such.

"Your will shall be done Praetor." Sasuke offered the salute of the Orange Legion of the Uzumaki Empire to Praetor's words and the blonde offered him a nod in return. His eyes returned to the soldiers of his Legion arrayed behind him and he was silent for several seconds before speaking.

"Centurion Uzumaki of the First Cohort's Fifth Century!" At the sound of Praetor directly addressing him, the centurion shot to his feet and his hand remained where it had been for quite some time now, clenched into a fist above his armored heart. "You and First Cohort's Fifth Century are dismissed from your post!"

"HOO!" A great smoke cloud drifted into the air a moment later as the entire century, centurion included, vanished to parts unknown to most of the denizens of Konoha. Naruto seemed to ignore it as he stepped through the smoke and Sasuke followed after him. With a shout, a dozen of his Praetorians raced forward and encircled the two high ranking leaders of the Orange Legion, the Legate and Praetor. Sakura briefly conversed with the centurion of Naruto's Praetorians and turned to Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei, do you mind if I go with you?" The pink haired Genin looked to the silver haired Jonin and Gai couldn't help but notice the rage suddenly shining in numerous pairs of blue eyes. Both the obvious and hidden soldiers of Naruto's Orange Legion had only moments ago looked upon Sakura with adoration but had swiftly shifted to hated towards his rival.

'Yet another question with no answer.' Gai wanted to sigh before he drew his rival's attention was a clap on the shoulder and a smile some would describe as blindingly bright.

"We can continue our conversation later my eternal rival! For now, do not allow me to interfere with a student so eager to spend time with you! I will leave you alone to impart your knowledge onto her! I shall do the same with my pupils and we will see which one of us proves more sagely!" Gai was back to being as boisterous as always it seemed.

Silently Kakashi met his eyes with his sole visible one and a message was exchanged.

 _Later_.

"Ah, this is precisely why I never bothered with kids before." Kakashi raised a hand in farewell as he stepped up to the Genin. "Sometimes they can be so demanding and I'm stuck dealing with whatever they want those sometimes."

"I just want to be sure you don't do anything before reporting back to the Hokage with the rest of us, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura smiled at him and the clones around them, having silently spread out into a barrier between the two and the populace of Konoha, marched in time with their steps as they began walking. "Naruto and Sasuke are probably already halfway there so do you really want to lose to your Genin students?"

Kakashi was silent for a moment before the pink haired Genin was swept up in his arms to the shouted protest of the clones that encircled them. Swords had been drawn and the centurion left behind leveled the blade with the Jonin.

"Unhand Sakura-chan." His voice was a growl as something came upon his eyes that made Kakashi file it away for later.

"Later." The Jonin vanished in a puff of smoke and the centurion truly did snarl as he sheathed his blade and turned to the near feral Praetorians around him. All returned their blades to their sides as his eyes swept over them before he marched out to the perimeter. A pair of twin lines formed behind him as he pressed a finger to the side of his helmet.

"Praetor, Legate, Silver Fang has taken Sakura-chan ahead of her guard."

" _I will deal with this."_ Praetor was unconcerned from his tone but none could feel the anger he must have held greater than the soldiers of the Orange Legion. They all felt the same rage at the blatant disrespect Silver Fang showed Praetor every moment he could. He was an enemy that would one day be eliminated with extreme prejudice. _"Return to camp and await myself and Legate Sasuke. We will arrive with all possible haste once this business at the Hokage Tower is finished."_

"Your Orange Legion shall eagerly await your return Praetor." The centurion of Naruto's Praetorians removed his finger from his ear and the grip on the hilt of his sword tightened several times over. "There will come a day when I will no lo-"

"Finally!" A girl with her hair in a pair of buns was suddenly in front of him and all but grabbed hold of the centurion. "I've been waiting over a week to talk to you! You've got to tell me where Naruto found such classics like this!" Somehow her hands now held his blade and it was gone from his side. The centurion took a moment or two to process such a thing. "Where were they stowed away at? Are they all custom made? Did he make the entire set himself? He's a good smith but there are some flaws that I saw and I've got loads of tips for him! How does he have so many copies? Is it some special Jutsu he created? Is he using seals? If he really did something that incredible than you have to let me see him and ask him everything about the process." His hand robotically reached out and took hold of his weapon as the Praetorians with him were silently sent on ahead with a wave of his unoccupied hand. "I j-"

He raised the same hand to her mouth to silence her. Despite the interruption and suddenness of their meeting, he knew her well thanks to her familiarity to several of the Legion for similar encounters. A thought struck him suddenly and Praetorian Centurion Uzumaki of the Orange Legion of the Uzumaki Empire smiled.

"I believe Praetor is far more capable of answering any questions you have of his glorious Orange Legion." He stepped to her side and offered his arm to her, one she took after only a moment and the two stepped down the street with their arms interlocked. "May I have your name if you don't mind?"

"Tenten Ken at your service."

"I am Praetorian Centurion Uzumaki and I, when Praetor himself is not present, lead the Praetorians of his magnificent Orange Legion." The Praetorian's mind was moving rather quickly as he spoke. They had swiftly caught up with the slow marching Praetorians and they continued forward in formation, wordlessly separating to allow the centurion to head to the front with his guest. "Tell me, Ken-san, what other words do you have on Praetor's Orange Legion?"

He did not question where the notebook came from. Reports he had checked before the return from Nami no Kuni showed she was well versed in Fuinjutsu, it was the entirety of her fighting style in many ways and something the Orange Legion's centurions had expressed interest in. The ability to transport so many weapons wasn't as important as her ingenuity and versatility. Observations showed her a master of most if not all of the weapons in her arsenal and the spars she had been offered by several centurions once their shifts had ended or had yet to begin had given much more information. Her weapons appeared to be an equal mixture of brought and custom made and those that fell into the second category were very well made.

Elsewhere, Team Asuma silently walked behind the soldiers of the Orange Legion.

"Man, this is such a drag." Shikamaru may have spoken what was quickly becoming his catchphrase but he did not stop or complain about their slow pursuit. "All I wanted to do was talk to Naruto about some of the stuff going on and he's in this mad rush to go to the Hokage Tower. Why couldn't he stick around the gates for a few more minutes?"

"You kind of just sat there when he showed up." Choji was walking at his side, a bag of chips in hand as he ate handful after handful. It was the second bag since the team had chosen to watch for the return of Team 7 to the village. "Why didn't you just go up to him before he left with Sasuke?"

"I was thinking about some things." Mainly the way the clones had all vanished. There were too many puzzle pieces strewn around in his head for him to snap out of his thoughts and go after Naruto. "And those guys that followed him didn't exactly look friendly."

"Yeah." Ino spoke up from where she walked with their sensei. "Asuma-sensei, what do you think about what happened?"

"When those clones tried to attack Kakashi?" Asuma exhales a stream of smoke from his nose before he lowered the cigarettes from his lips. "You really shouldn't worry about it so much Ino. It wasn't like he couldn't take them down if he was really in trouble."

"Then what about Sasuke-kun!" The volume of Ino's voice made all three men on the team wince. "Why is he following that Dead Last around like he's some bodyguard?"

"You should talk to Sakura about that." Asuma deflected the question to the pink haired Genin on the team. "She probably knows why he's doing it. Maybe Naruto promised him something."

The fact that the Uchiha was listening to the former Dead Last of the Academy had drawn more than a little curiosity from the Shinobi that had gathered after the near disaster Naruto's clones had caused on the day of the testing. A few of the Yamanaka had been looking over what they knew from ANBU observations during Team 7's days before the escort mission to Nami no Kuni and so far hadn't come up with much. The only thing that had sprung up was a betting pool over the two's daily spars.

"You're right, Forehead would know all about why Sasuke-kun is listening to Naruto-baka!" Asuma silently distanced himself from the blonde Genin. The maniacal gleams in her eyes made him somewhat worry over the fate of Kakashi's student. "I'll make sure to find out everything she knows! Then I'll make sure Sasuke-kun stops following that idiot around and he'll love me for it!"

'Dammit Ino.' Shikamaru wanted to put his head in his hands as several of Naruto's clones abruptly broke away from the formation at a run. They ducked into an alley and he had no idea where they ended up going before six at the end of the formation turned around and formed a wall out of their shields and a hand fell to the swords at their waist.

No doubt Ino's shouts had alerted them to their tails.

"Halt." The six clones spoke as one and Shikamaru didn't exactly like the look in their blue eyes. They weren't a lot like the Naruto he thought he knew before he had heard about him graduating from some special lessons. The same blue eyes had once been the cage for a mad brilliance and other things that simply defined Naruto to the dark haired Genin but now they carried something else that he couldn't exactly pin down. The only thing he could say for certain he found in them was an immeasurable pride.

"Hey." He raised a hand in greeting as he and Choji came to a stop. "You guys mind if I talk to Naruto?"

"Praetor is not among us." One of the six spoke this time as the shields were suddenly removed from where they had been all but slammed into the ground and returned to their place at their sides with their arms. One of the clones stepped forward, the same one that had spoken, and the other six fell back and their hands remained on their swords.

"Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, let's go." Asuma strode forward with his hands in his pocket, his cigarette extinguished beneath his sandal a few paces behind him. His eyes roamed over the six clones before he walked between the two Genin. "I'm pretty sure the Hokage has a mission for us."

"Yeah…almost forgot." Shikamaru nodded and followed after his sensei with the two other Genin as he leaped onto the rooftops.

'I guess I'll talk to him at the Hokage Tower then.' Unbidden, Shikamaru couldn't stop the lazy grin slowly spreading over his face. 'It'll be a 'surprise' meting. Catching up with an old friend I guess…' The grin fell away faster than it had arrived. 'If Naruto even has people he calls friends anymore.'

The easy going days at the Academy came to mind then. Him, Choji, Kiba, and Naruto spending day after day together only to be yelled out by Iruka-sensei and stuck in detention where the teacher would lecture them some more. Naruto had laughed off most of what he said but would show up in class for a few days. He would pull a few pranks but he wouldn't ditch class for a while. He dragged the other three in the room with him, saying something about the future Hokage needing friends almost as smart as him. After he said that, Kiba would start shouting at him and then, some of the time at least, the two would get into a fight over who would be the better Hokage. Akamaru would no doubt get involved somehow, and he and Choji would just laugh at the two.

'Man…memories are such a drag sometimes.' He ran a hand down his face.

His hand came away wet. All this sudden exercising was making a lazy guy like him sweat.

"Ah, it seems someone wants to talk to me." A grin spread across his face as he removed a hand from his ear. "Two people if the reports are correct."

"The First's Sixth Centurion is nearby, should I order him to assemble his century outside?" Sasuke spoke up from where he leaned against the wall next to Naruto. Both had been waiting for their Jonin sensei and Sakura to show up. The eyes of the Orange Legion pursued them over the village as Kakashi stopped more times than was necessary. So far he had picked up dango, picked up more shuriken and kunai, went by the kennels kept by the Inuzuku and talked for a few minutes with a few of the clan members, went into a tree to feed a family of squirrels, and gone around the village when a cat crossed his path. It wasn't even black, an old rust colored one. "He'll arrive in several minutes."

"No. My Praetorians are enough and I do not feel like aggravating our watchers anymore." Down either end of the hall, his Praetorians had dispersed themselves and prevented travel to the Hokage's office. Several shouting matches had occurred but nothing more than that.

The sheer power that continued to pour out of the blonde Uzumaki waiting by the door to the office made many reconsider picking a fight with the clones blocking their way.

The trio of ANBU Black Ops agents standing at either end of the hall in a silent staring match with the soldiers of the Orange Legion also helped send many off to fulfill other duties they suddenly remembered having. The sight amused the Praetor of the Orange Legion to no end.

"That's pretty smart Naruto." Both Genin started off the wall when Kakashi was suddenly between them. Naruto recovered quickly and chuckled as Sakura stepped down the hall and the Praetorians silently stepped out of the way for her before reforming their line. "I knew I made the right decision when I named you Team Leader."

"Your skills are great to silently bypass all of my Praetorians Silver Fang." Naruto spoke no more as he turned to the door to the Hokage office and opened it. "I truly can hardly wait for the day my glorious Legion at last surpasses such a great power. I shall enjoy the day when you learn the errors of your ways."

"You kids." Blades were not drawn when Kakashi patted Naruto on the head only because the Praetorians had not seen the deed. They did not see Kakashi silently step pass Naruto into the room and beckon for the Genin to follow.

They did feel Praetor's rage through the Chakra suddenly flooding the halls. They turned and marched back to the door.

"Hokage-sama." Kakashi bowed his head towards the village leader as the three Genin formed a line in front of him. Sakura was once again in the center, directly in front of him, and Naruto and Sasuke were on his right and left respectively. "Team 7 reporting in."

"Ah, Team 7 at last." Hiruzen Sarutobi let a smile cross over his aged face as he set down his pen for the moment. "I've been waiting for your appearance all morning, Kakashi." He let his elbows rest on the top of his desk and leaned forward, his interlocked fingers resting at his nose. "Tell me, what is the status of your C-Rank escort mission to the Land of Waves?"

"Team 7's mission to the Land of Waves was a success Hokage-sama." Kakashi was grinning underneath his mask. "I named Naruto Team Leader so I'm sure he can tell you all the details." The Jonin laid a hand on Naruto's armored shoulder. "Isn't that right, Naruto?"

"You are testing many things with your actions, Silver Fang." Naruto strode forward, almost jerking his shoulder free of Kakashi's grip to some, and stopped in front of the Hokage's desk. "I am pleased to inform you Sarutobi-jiji that the Land of Waves has fallen under the banner of my mighty Uzumaki Empire."

The Hokage stared blankly forward for a moment before his arms followed a well-practiced movement, more like a routine in truth. He drew out his pipe from underneath his desk. The smoking instrument was swiftly loaded with tobacco and lit before the Hokage brought it to his lips. He took a deep breath and exhaled the smoke.

"Could you repeat that Naruto-kun and, this time, leave out no details?" Hiruzen was met with an eager grin from Naruto, something similar to the smiles of mere months ago when he had still been an Academy Student but it was utterly separate at the same time.

"I shall." Naruto held out his hand and in a puff of smoke a scroll appeared in it. "I am pleased to announce that the Uzumaki Empire has cleared Waves of banditry and my Third Cohort has been stationed there to prevent the return of such filth. As I am not omnipresent, I have elected to name a well-known and respected man named Kaiza to be the Vicarius of Nami no Kuni. The client, Tazuna, had faced threats from a man known as Gato so I killed him."

"What?" The Hokage's words made Naruto's blue eyes widen at something he was completely foreign to coming from the man and directed at him. It was the anger in them. "You killed Gato?"

"Yes." He swiftly recovered. "His business interests directly caused the plague of bandits on my lands so I committed a takeover of his interests. All he once owned has now become the property of my Uzumaki Empire. I did not dismantle his shipping industry if you believe so. I have merely placed the Vicarius of Nami no Kuni in charge of it now. My Third Cohort has also deemed itself capable of expanding to better patrol my new territory. I have authorized such a thing and soon I shall command Orange Legions." Naruto set the scroll down on the desk. "As a Shinobi of Konoha, I have given the order for a great amount of detail to be committed to the scroll you see before you now. It describes all I have spoken of in much more detail from the initial journey to the campaign of war I unleashed upon the filth polluting my lands." Naruto stepped away and bowed to the aged Hokage. "I gift this to you Hokage-sama."

"I will look over this as soon as I can Naruto-kun." Blue eyes did not remain locked with old eyes. They swiftly left as he turned around.

"I also wish to inform you of the success of the mission you assigned to Team 7 Sarutobi-jiji. Tazuna survived with no injuries and his bridge was complete." At this, Naruto chuckled but it was a hollow one. "It has been named the Great Hope Bridge by the man we were assigned to protect."

It was clear Naruto hated the name.

"I see." Hiruzen leaned back in his chair, his pipe once again brought up to his lips. "I will perhaps call you all in individually in the coming days and ask for reports from all of you. Naruto will be excluded as he has given me one I will look over with the others. Just to be safe, I'm ordering the rest of the team to complete your reports within a timespan of two days from now and send them to me." He exhaled a breath of smoke. "That will be all Team 7, you are dismissed."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Four voices spoke together and the moment they were out of the doors they ran into Team 8.

"Kurenai."

"Kakashi."

The two Jonin greeted each other with nods of their heads, mutual respect in a working relationship, but the Genin were different.

"My Praetorians need more training I see." Chakra ripped through the hallway as a blue streaked wind and roused the fallen Praetorians strewn outside the door from their Genjutsu induced slumber. Power shined in the blue eyes of the blonde Uzumaki before he turned to the active Sharingan of his Legate. He ignored the distasteful sight of his Praetorians staggering back to their feet and retrieving their fallen weapons. "I expect this not to happen again Legate."

"I will pursue solutions with all I am able to Praetor." Sasuke's eyes looked over the clones for a moment before returning to Naruto's and brought his fist over his heart. "Such a disgrace shall not stain the records of your Legion again."

"I will hold you to it." Naruto's eyes roved over the three Genin that stood behind Kurenai as the Jonin glanced from him to Sasuke, curiosity shining in her eyes. "I see you have a team with you Yuhi-san. I feel more ashamed by Praetorians didn't detect the approach of Genin before falling to your Genjutsu."

"So, looks like the rumors are true." Naruto's eyes shifted to Kiba as the Inuzuka strode forward with the small and white Akamaru in his jacket like always. "You've gotten really good with that Shadow Clone Jutsu you leaned. Enough to think you can say what you want to anybody no matter what their rank is." He stepped forward and growled. "So, my big question for you right now, what the hell did you hit your head on, Naruto? What's got you acting like this?"

Naruto did not answer. His gaze settled on Kiba's own for a second before he pointedly turned to observe the other two members of Team 8.

"Hey! I'm talking to y-" He stepped forward and was stopped when a hand grabbed hold of his shoulder.

"You seem to be under the impression Praetor has to answer you." Sasuke's Sharingan locked with the near feral eyes of the Inuzuka from Naruto's wordless dismissal of him. "I will tell you to drop such delusions now or you will not live to regret having them." His free hand rested on the sword at his side. "You should know better than to demand anything of Praetor."

"I'm not afraid of your fancy eyes." Kiba jerked his shoulder away from his loose grip and his hands tightened into fists at his side. "If you think you can stop me, go ahead and try and take me on."

"There's your mistake Inuzuka, I don't think I can beat you, I know I can." Sasuke's sword was partially out of the sheath when a hand grabbed hold of his wrist.

"Well…this is over with." Kakashi's single visible eye was closed as he forced Sasuke's hand to move and place the sword back in its scabbard. A tighter grip forced him to release his grip on the sword and he pulled Sasuke away from a now grinning Kiba without another word. "We're going to talk later Sasuke." Kakashi released the Uchiha and looked to Kurenai. "See? This is why I'm no good with kids."

"You shouldn't say that." Kurenai looked towards Naruto. "Some kids are born rotten."

Kakashi and his team vanished without another word from the masked Jonin. Kurenai looked at the spot he had been at for only a moment longer before she turned and walked back down the hall. Team 8 followed her without a word of complaint. Her desire for a new mission for the Genin was forgotten for now as a new desire had taken hold of her mind. She had to go talk to two specific people right now and hopefully get some answers. She ran into one of the two she was looking for right down the hall.

Asuma was leaning against the wall, the two teams seamlessly joining together and intermingling as the Jonin sensei of each walked side by side. It wasn't long before they came across Gai and his team outside and the nine Genin were sent off to Training Ground 8 with the promise of the Jonin's arrival within the next few hours.

"We need to talk." The three spoke together before all three vanished in a swiftly conjoined cloud of smoke.

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AN: 3 to go.


	9. The First Step Is Taken!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: 2 out of 4.

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In the days following Team 7's return from the Land of Waves, word had spread of Naruto's conquest of the entire island country and his new ownership of Gato's numerous businesses, both those deemed legal by most and those deemed illegal by others. The missions that had been regularly handed out to the Hidden Villages had swiftly come to an end with a notice being sent out: 'A great number of recent internal changes to the company has brought with them the need to temporarily bring all shipping and trading to a halt'. The number of complaints that the Hokage had been bombarded with had been high but truly only four stood out among the stack after stack of soon to be tinder. He also considered giving them to the Konoha Aviary as well.

The Mizukage had spoken of the strangeness of the sudden shift in ownership.

The Raikage had spoken of the necessity of keeping a large Shinobi force occupied.

The Tsuchikage had spoken of the fragile state of some villages compared to others.

The Kazekge had spoken of the alliance between villages, the necessity for the spread of information.

The four leaders of the other Hidden Villages had aired their grievances to him with terse responses. All could be summed up the same way in the end:

Things were to return to normal or else.

The aged Hokage had not sent a reply as of yet. He had just finished reading the final report from Team 7, Kakashi's, and now sat in quiet contemplation once he had burned it to ash. The Jonin had been very thorough and had left no details out. The fact that Zabuza Momoichi was currently employed by Naruto spoke volumes of the amount of money Gato had. Momoichi was a very expensive mercenary to hire to kill a simple bridge builder. The fact he was still hired spoke of how much money Naruto had taken from the dead man. His squad of powerful Kekkei Genkai wielders from the purges in Mizu no Kuni he had trained to become brutal assassins had also found employment under the umbrella of the Genin's recent hiring of their teacher. Hiruzen was simply glad that they remained in Nami no Kuni for the moment. He could breathe easier knowing his problems were limited to the immediate and not far and distant ones.

All he had to deal with was the fact that Naruto had conquered an entire island country and also controlled one of the largest corporations in the world. The blonde had listed his new assets in his reports and ANBU were currently compiling a number of files related to each of them into a comprehensive report for him.

It would take a week at minimum.

"This is going to be a long few weeks."

"I hope you haven't forgotten that the Chunin Exams are approaching, Hiruzen."

"I haven't."

Danzo Shimura sat across from him. The two elderly Shinobi had been working in silence for the most part once the former council member had been called to Hiruzen's office and had offered him several scrolls which had already been read through. All of them concerned Naruto's Uzumaki Empire from the initial actions taken in Konoha, such as taking over the Uchiha District, the movement of his Second and Fourth Cohorts in the ruins of Uzushiogakure and lands nearby, and Third Cohort's actions in Nami no Kuni as they rapidly grew into another Orange Legion for Naruto to command, and the continued near eruption of Chakra from Naruto for the past few days since his return and near complete separation from other Shinobi thanks to his First Cohort and Praetorians.

On his last count, eight sensors that had been responsible for the barrier around Konoha had been sent to the hospital with heavy migraines. If this continued the way it was, he wouldn't have many more left and that would pose too many problems to think about. Danzo had handled the most recent replacements with several suggestions and nothing out of the norm had come out of the sensor department for the past few hours. Hiruzen was glad his fellow Shinobi had solved the potential security disaster.

"You will need additional security depending on how many teams are sent to the exams by the competing villages and how many manage to reach the finals." Danzo spoke and near the wall the white coated ANBU Commander nodded. "Some will need to be visible to the untrained eye and others invisible to even the most watchful of eyes."

"It'll be done."

"Konoha's Shinobi will need to be on guard and cautious to act with so many foreign Shinobi entering the village." The Jonin Commander, Shikaku Nara, spoke up from his position near the window, his shadow filling the room as several scrolls were held suspended in hands of shadow. "Kakashi will also need to learn to rein that kid in if he's going to have his team compete in the Chunin Exams. We don't need an international incident because he decided to talk big to any of the other Kage that'll be showing up."

"That's unlikely to happen." Danzo spoke before Hiruzen did. The darker side of their world almost broke into laughter and gained curious, even fearful, looks from those in the office. "Naruto Uzumaki continues to prove that he is not only unpredictable but shows he will soon be a powerful force in our world. His creation of his army, completely unknown to all of us until the day of Hatake's test, shows precisely how dangerous he can become. We've all read the reports on what his Orange Legion really is, that should be enough to tell us all what he is capable of."

"Indeed." Hiruzen's voice was grave as he looked towards one of the scrolls on his desk. "You've all destroyed the information, correct?"

"Hai." All three spoke together. All three knew how dangerous the information they had discovered truly was. It was almost insulting to believe any of them had allowed the information to fall into the wrong hands, to even exist for longer than it took to read and recover from their shock at what it contained.

"Good. Less detailed copies have been circulated to the ANBU and Jonin of the village but, as you all know, Kakashi Hatake has been granted access to all information and he has been made the one responsible for compiling future reports once the ANBU were discovered." Hiruzen's words were met with a series of nods.

"What of Hatake's friends? They could possible discover the truth behind the boy's army and they may spread it, intentional or otherwise. They should be dealt with, at least two of them." Danzo spoke and the ANBU Commander responded.

"An old friend will be responsible for reports on the three. The reports I receive will decide what happens to them." Beneath his mask, the ANBU Commander's eyes drifted to the shadows. "Understood?"

Silence was his answer but he did not expect vocal acknowledgement more than he expected them to appear from the shadows. The shadows he observed with unseen eyes had become thinner, had gained a lighter darkness to them. The ANBU that had once been stationed inside had vanished.

"You shouldn't doubt Kakashi." Hiruzen set the scroll down as it began to burn away. "He can, and still does, surprise me with his actions. I'm sure he can handle this situation without any of us intervening. He is a man with a plan for nearly everything."

In Training Ground 7…

"I do not have a plan for this." Kakashi spoke mainly to himself as he hung upside down from a tree branch. He was currently in such a position because he had found reason to silently observe the three Genin that were his responsibility until they were promoted to Chunin or, as unlikely as it was, died. His Sharingan eye was unveiled as he continued to look over one of the three Genin that had been assigned to him and he tried to put his natural genius to use to figure out why bad things kept happening to him.

All he ever did was be hours late to anything not deemed urgent. Sure, he had made plenty of people angry and make them swear vengeance on him, but he had never done anything to deserve the headache one of his students had turned out to be. His Sharingan focused on the blonde in front of him for several seconds before he realized he could come up with no answer to even one of his questions.

Naruto Uzumaki's Chakra continued to flow out of him with no end in sight and had, within an hour, saturated the entirety of the training ground they resided in. The Jonin sighed as he moved one hand and readjusted the headband that denoted his allegiance to Konohagakure to once again cover it. He stopped the flow of Chakra to his feet and landed silently in a crouch on the forest floor before he vanished in a cloud of smoke.

"Hey." He silently appeared before the three Genin with a single hand rose in greeting before it fell down to his side. "You three are still alive."

"The Orange Legion does not falter at any challenge." Naruto's grin never wavered as he rested a hand on the hilt of his blade. "You should do well to remember that Silver Fang for the day will come that you shall be the challenge my glorious Legion shall not only face but overcome."

"Don't you mean Legions now?" Kakashi's comment was met with loud boisterous laughter from the Uzumaki that he had foolishly made his responsibility when he passed him. Despite the fact, he nodded along to the message he took from the laughter. "Ah, so you don't count your expanded forces yet?"

"You are correct Silver Fang." Naruto's laughter was replaced by chuckling before it was gone entirely before he rose a clenched fist into the air. "The Orange Legion's Third Cohort may expand to greater and greater heights the more time passes but it is not yet deserving of the title of Legion! It is especially not deserving of a title of one of my Orange Legions but time shall show it deserves such a name! Until then, it is still nothing but a Cohort of my great Orange Legion! Once the time comes to pass, I shall command Legions but for now I still command only a single glorious Orange Legion of my mighty Uzumaki Empire!" Blue eyes shined with delight at what the future held, the power he would hold, the force of arms that fewer and fewer would ever be able to stand against. "Soon none will be able to muster arms against my mighty and glorious Uzumaki Empire and on that day the world shall tremble and rejoice at my absolute rule!"

"Alright then." Kakashi felt the need to turn to Sakura for some sanity amongst the team as Sasuke had turned and saluted Naruto with the universal one used by his clones. "Sakura, I'm going to work on your Chakra Control while those two spar."

"You shall not Silver Fang!" Naruto's blade was suddenly drawn and the idle Praetorians erupted into action. They formed a circle around the two and blades were drawn and shields were pointed towards the Jonin that stood next to their Praetor. "You shall not have the time of Sakura-chan today! My centurions of my glorious Legion shall train her in the swordplay she seems so eager in making use of!" He turned his eyes to her but never fully turned them away from the lax Kakashi for more than a few seconds so blue shined from the corners of his eyes. He grinned at her and ignored the almost fear that shined in her green eyes. "Sakura-chan shall learn to fight in the way of my great Uzumaki Empire."

"No." Kakashi spoke the simple word and didn't move as the ring of swords and steel closed once the clones took a step inward and pointed to Naruto and Sasuke. "I let you two spar all the time because you don't need much in the way of training since you've both got tree walking and water walking down in the past few days. Sakura, on the other hand, needs personal training because her control is abysmal. It's not saying much since most of her skills are abysmal from what I've seen but it's what I'm focusing on today and I'll hopefully see some progress from her." At his words, the pink haired Genin seemed to deflate and the circle around the two Shinobi drew tighter. "You two can learn Kenjutsu and some Ninjutsu from me later but for now you'll be happy with the leniency I'm giving you while I train your teammate up to standard. You two are not to leave the training grounds by the way. Take that as an order from your Jonin sensei."

Kakashi swore the clones around him actually growled then. He ignored them and stepped out the circle to grab hold of a startled Sakura's shoulder.

"Besides, Sakura's my favorite out of you three." He vanished and Naruto allowed his humor to vanish. His teeth were bared to the world as his lips curled with fury. He wanted to do nothing more than strike down the one he had deemed Silver Fang but just as swiftly as his anger had appeared it vanished.

"Centurion, keep watch on Silver Fang from a distance." Sasuke pressed a finger to his ear and issued the order to the far away centurion, one who had been issued surveillance equipment his century had dispersed throughout the forest. "Do not lose sight of him."

" _He will not escape the sights of my men."_ The centurion answered back and the connection was cancelled as Sasuke drew his finger away from his ear.

"The eyes of the Legion will one day not fall to the Genjtusu of Shinobi but until that day comes we must remain reliant on surveillance equipment." Naruto spoke the words seemingly to himself before he turned to the Legate of his Orange Legion. "Legate, I expect a truly ripe fruit from the labors of your training one of these days."

"I shall aim to provide a bountiful harvest on that day Praetor." Sasuke raised a fist over his armored heart as he bowed his head to the ruler of the Uzumaki Empire. "Now," His head shot up and his Sharingan came to life, his eyes shining with a red light. ", what do you say to a spar Praetor?"

His answer was the drawing of a blade from his side and he grinned as the Uchiha did the same. Both held out their hands and their shields appeared from recent additions to their armor.

"I thought you would never ask."

The sound of steel meeting steel rung out as the two met in a clash, their faces split by battle hungry and bloodthirsty grins. They would not stop until a winner had been decided.

"This spot should be good." Kakashi had made two Shadow Clones the moment he had vanished with Sakura and thrown off the Orange Legion watchers he had seen setting up equipment across the forest. One clone had transformed into Sakura and the training they had come to expect had begun: Him hounding her as he ran her through beginner's Shurikenjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu with random trivia questions interspersed through it all.

"Kakashi-sensei, where are we?" Sakura had gotten rather good at not feeling nauseous from the truly insane speed Kakashi traveled at and looked around at the rocky and barren terrain around them.

"It's a place more out there. I'm borrowing it to train you." Kakashi put his hands in his pockets before turning to a massive rectangular rock more than double his height that was nearby and gestured towards it with his sandal clad foot. "Go on and smash this rock for me."

"What!" Sakura was shocked for a second, rightfully so, before a look from Kakashi calmed her down. He had perfected the ability to smile with his eye during his childhood and used it now. "You know I'm not super strong like Naruto and Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei. Isn't there something else I can do?"

"Just trust me on this one Sakura." Kakashi drew a hand out of his pocket and patted the nearby rock on the side from next to it. Sakura briefly looked from where he had just been standing to where he now was before sighing and walking over. "I'm sure you'll do fine."

"A-A-Alright then Kakashi-sensei. I need a second." She balled her hands into a fist and couldn't help but close her eyes as she drew it back with the rest of her body. Her entire body tensed for a moment before she threw all she had into the blow. Her mind was entirely focused on striking the rock and hopefully not breaking her hand in too many places to count.

"SHANNARO!"

'Let's see if I'm right.' His Sharingan eye was revealed to the world as he stepped back and took in the sight.

Her fist struck the rock. The rock shattered. A stunned Sakura nearly fell forward if he hadn't wrapped an arm around her waist and leapt into the air just in time. The ground rumbled for only a moment before it simply caved in, a jagged cavernous maw swallowing up the earth before it collapsed in on itself.

"What the hell!?" The airborne Genin in his arms could only scream at the sight below her before Kakashi landed on a rock spire farther away. He used his free hand to once again hide his Sharingan and took a moment to take in the destruction below him with his own eye.

"Yep, it looks like you have quite the ability." Kakashi sat her down on the narrow pillar and wasn't surprised when she easily held on, her Chakra instantly grabbing hold of the rock below her even if her arms shot out and wrapped around one of his own. "You're a natural at something that took the creator years to get the hang of."

"Please tell me what you're talking about." Sakura was in no danger of falling but she didn't seem to understand that was the case so he would show her.

He vanished from sight and appeared lower on the rock, his feet holding him sideways as he looked up at the pink haired Genin who closed her eyes as she awaited her fall to the earth. When nothing happened she tentatively opened one eye and met Kakashi's sole visible eye below her.

"Congratulations Sakura, you have the best Chakra Control I've ever seen." He gave her another eye smile.

She was a natural at tree walking and water walking was the same, a single step on the water was all it took to get it down. Her strength was at truly monstrous levels despite her rather poor physical condition because she was a natural at using the technique of a Sannin in Chakra Enhanced Strength. It was even better than Tsunade's version from what Kakashi had researched and what he had just seen.

He truly had a future monster of a Shinobi on his hands.

"Your mind is one of the sharpest I've ever seen, most Nara don't compare." He walked back up the spire and stepped upright.

Her intelligence was another thing that couldn't be ignored. She WAS smarter than most Nara Clan members and, an upside not many of them could boast about, was easily motivated judging from the rigor that she had pursued Sasuke with. Her mind was partly responsible for why she was able to have such phenomenal Chakra Control in the first place as it, in his theory at least, contributed to her just demonstrated strength. He would call it a monstrous thing.

"You're going to be great."

Tentatively, she let her own smile spread across her face as she looked down at her fist.

"Kakashi-sensei, can I ask a favor real quick?"

"What is it?"

"Can you turn around so I can change out of this stuff?" She gestured down to the armor dotting her form and Kakashi couldn't help but let his eye smile grow. "I've got a spare set of clothes sealed away."

"Just call if you need me." He vanished in a puff of smoke and settled down behind a boulder quite a distance away. He would give her plenty of privacy. He personally couldn't wait to see Naruto's expression when Sakura unveiled the fruits of her labors with him. She would quickly grow to outstrip both of them if she kept to her strengths.

Once he really began training her once the first rounds of the Exams were over with, she'll be a true monster that would put the legend Tsunade of the Sannin had garnered for herself to shame. She would perhaps rise to be a Goddess of Shinobi with her skills given enough time and training, two things he would make sure she received ample amounts of. He would only accept greatness from her.

'Unlike Naruto and Sasuke, you don't really know what you can do, do you Sakura?' An image of the Uchiha he taught came to mind. 'His Sharingan, Ninjutsu, Genjtusu, Taijutsu, and all those other skills he has makes you think you can't measure up but you're wrong.' He had come to learn the many weaknesses of Sasuke Uchiha in his time observing his three students. 'Arrogant, prideful, obsessed with vengeance, and more personality issues than most ANBU. He'll go mad one day.' Next came Naruto and the Jonin sighed. 'You're teammate is no better. Taijutsu, Chakra reserves that put most Kage, past and present, to shame, his mastery of that Kinjutsu of his, and his status as the Jinchuriki…you must really think he's far ahead of you. Both of them can do incredible things and you think you're hardly even average.'

He could imagine where Sakura saw herself then. She was constantly chasing after her two teammates, always running behind them and struggling to catch up. She had taken a backseat role in the Bell Test, relegated to a watcher by Naruto's army of clones, while Naruto and Sasuke retrieved the bells. During the time between then and the escort mission to Nami no Kuni, she was hardly able to breathe, let alone train, with all the Blossom Guards Naruto forced on her. She must have felt stifled, suffocated, like she was nothing but a piece of delicate glassware wrapped and put away for safekeeping. She must have felt like nothing more than a burden when compared to what Naruto and Sasuke could do.

She couldn't fight like them.

She couldn't move like them.

She didn't think like them.

'Being like those two is overrated, Sakura.' Kakashi almost chuckled at the thought. 'You have more potential than they ever did.' An image of the red and black eyes of the Uchiha came to his mind. 'Sasuke will never surpass his brother while relying on the same eyes he has.' An image of Naruto followed next, clad in the armor of his Orange Legion with a massive portion of his created force behind him. 'Naruto…we'll be lucky if he doesn't cause a war or two between the rest of the world and his Uzumaki Empire. He's a mad conqueror who'll hopefully burn out before he does anything too dangerous to either himself or the village.'

'But you?' The Genin appeared to his mind's eye. He leaned back against the boulder he waited behind and the corners of his mask moved up as he smiled. 'You've got nothing weighing you down or clouding your judgment. No fancy Dojutsu and no crazy Kinjutsu in your bag of tricks. All you can do is improve yourself or not advance at all. You'll earn every bit of strength through training, master every new technique with not only that scarily sharp mind of yours but determination to not give up until you get it done, and you'll become a legend after you gained those legendary skills because you fought for them every step of the way.'

Unbidden, an image of his self-proclaimed rival appeared next to Sakura. He had seen Gai go from a child regularly mocked to a legend among Shinobi with his raw skill and was glad he could call the man a friend. He was someone for people to actually look up to, someone who didn't fail the people that relied on him. Gai was someone who didn't need any special eyes or natural genius to achieve greatness as long as he could push himself past his limits day in and day out. Gai was someone that was the epitome of what hard work and the determination to never give up could give you.

He was far greater than the man called a prodigy since birth, a genius destined for great things. He was a true Shinobi of Konoha…unlike himself.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Her voice called out to him and he rose from where he had been resting.

"Over here!" He lifted a single hand and she came rushing over to him dressed like she was when Team 7 had still been unofficial. The armor of the Orange Legion laid discarded behind her, strewn across the ground among the already present rubble. Kakashi couldn't help but smile at the sight.

Yes. He was certain of it all now. Sakura would go farther than both Naruto and Sasuke no matter what. All that he had to do was make sure she understood the first step on the path to greatness was one that began far from it.

It would be painful.

It would be torture.

She would probably grow to hate him for putting her through it all but greatness wasn't obtained without cost.

'I'm definitely going to make you a legend, Sakura.' The Copy Ninja smiled beneath his mask.

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AN: Well, that happened. Make of it what you will. Enjoy the next two or don't.


	10. Is This The Meeting That Preludes Glory?

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full Chapter Title: Is This The Meeting That Preludes Glory?

Also, 3 out of 4.

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Those on the streets of Konoha were witness to Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha walking the streets with a ring of Praetorians around the two.

"Legate, how far has the word spread?" Training had lasted well into the afternoon before the two had decided to stop. Now the Legate and Praetor walked back to the Orange Legion's main camp while the First Cohort remained encamped within Konoha: the conquered Uchiha District.

"The last time I checked, all centurions had passed the words on to their men. The entire Legion has been informed of what happened in Nami no Kuni." Sasuke's Sharingan locked with blue eyes as he offered the Uzumaki a smirk. "Trust me Praetor, I was very thorough."

"I have no doubt." Naruto let out a brief chuckle as the wall of shields blocking the road into the Uchiha District was wordlessly disassembled before the two highest ranking members of the Orange Legion. It was just as swiftly reassembled as they passed by line after line, a full century in total. "I see the First Cohort has been busy as always in our absence."

"Indeed they have." Sasuke and Naruto both came to a stop to look at the repurposed Uchiha district.

It was no longer a desolate place inhabited by nearly no one but was now dominated by the ranks of the Legion. Construction had long been under way to raise barracks, forges, communication hubs, armories and more by the soldiers of Naruto's First Cohort. The district itself had been refurbished heavily, the flags of the Legion and the First Cohort hanging across the district. Security had been increased with the addition of several more centuries as currently the district played host to a meeting between the heads of each Cohort of the Orange Legion. They awaited Praetor near the center of the district, the building they were meeting in surrounded by a ring of Praetorians. The rooftops of the entire district were covered by the sharp eyes of the men of the Orange Legion and a multitude of surveillance equipment. It all wired back to multiple surveillance centers across the district and even to a hidden camp manned by a small force of Praetorians.

"Gato's funds have been swiftly put to use." The Legate's comments only gained a chuckle from the ruler of the Orange Legion as he stepped past twin columns of saluting soldiers.

"My Orange Legion has scarcely begun to use that filth's requisitioned assets." Naruto's eyes seemed to glow with a rabid anticipation of what the future held. "Soon I shall command both the land and the sea with my great Orange Legion."

"The day such a thing happens shall be eagerly awaited by the entirety of your magnificent Legion." Sasuke stepped after him, his eyes focused on the growing higher and higher tower every day in the center of the district. It constantly held the flag of the Orange Legion aloft even among the uncompleted framework and high above even it rested the flag of the Uzumaki Empire. "Your enemies shall learn to fear another domain ruled by the might of your Uzumaki Empire on that day as well."

"They shall learn many things about fear Legate, many things that shall drive them to beg for my mercy, for my rule." Naruto stepped into the open doors of the tower and Sasuke followed after him without hesitation. Only darkness greeted them once ten Praetorians drew the doors close with their combined strength split across the two. "Now, let us see if this meeting can begin."

A long and dark sloping tunnel was walked through within minutes by the two, Praetorians of the Legion saluting Naruto at regularly spaced intervals. At the end four Praetorians stood at attention with their shields held up and their blades clenched in their hands.

"Praetor." All four spoke as one and they swung inward without another word spoken. Naruto stepped past them and at last entered the underground meeting room the First Cohort of his Legion had been busy with excavating since he had laid claim to the land above them.

"It is a great thing to see you all before me." Naruto took his seat at the head of the mostly occupied table while the five seats on either side of the table were, save for one, already occupied by the centurions that headed the Cohorts of his Legion. Behind him at his immediate right stood the Praefectus Castrorum of his Praetorians and at the opposite end of the table the Legate sat under the hanging banner of his personal force, the uchiwa of the Uchiha wrapped by the red swirl of the Uzumaki. Changes had of course been made to it once the march back to Nami no Kuni had begun on Naruto's order which only lead to the inclusion of a ring of flames set around the two clan symbols.

Four of his Cohorts had been bloodied so four personalized banners hung above their heads. The Centurion of the First Cohort, to his left, sat with the Hounds of Silver Fang hanging above him. Next to him, the Centurion of the Second Cohort sat with his standard, the Uzumaki swirl holding a bloodied blade pointing downward and two others crossed behind it, equally as bloodied. The Centurion of the Third Cohort, sitting next to the Second, sat beneath his official standard, the Uzumaki swirl holding within it a wave and against it stood the shields of the Third Cohort. The Centurion of the Fourth Cohort, sitting next to the Third, sat beneath the banner of the Uzumaki swirl holding the silhouette of distant ruins with the men of the Fourth standing before it. The six other centurions sat with only the blank standard, a deep orange with the swirl of the Uzumaki Empire with the number of the Cohort they commanded underneath it. V for the Fifth, VI for the Sixth, VII for the Seventh, VIII for the Eight, IX for the Ninth, and X for the Tenth. Between each standard of the bloodied Cohorts and of those not yet given such an opportunity, the banner of the Uzumaki Empire hung from the walls. The Uzumaki swirl placed on a white background, simplicity winning out over his desire to make it a grand thing. One change had come across it since his return as the kanji for 'Waves' rested directly above the swirl in jet black with its place not unlike the place of the number 12 on a clock.

Naruto's arms swept out and his grin was wide as he rose, his blue eyes shined with something that few present could identify. Not even the centurions before him had a chance before it was gone. Only the wielder of the Sharingan had caught a glimpse of it and filed it away to ponder on after the meeting was finished.

"Let us speak of what has come to pass and what has yet to do the same, let this room be the sole witness to the certainty of our future glory, and let us all remember this day for countless days and countless nights." He let his arms fall and his grin widened. "Let us set in motion the grand plans of my Legion and let us build upon my glorious Empire with them."

"Glory shall be yours Praetor." Each centurion bowed his head and crossed his armored fist over his heart as one. "None shall stand before the might of your Legion."

"Death awaits all your enemies and glory awaits all those you deem worthy." Sasuke followed the example of the centurions.

"Then let us begin and bring those words into reality." Naruto clasped his hands in front of him and looked over the gathered leaders of his army. "Who wishes to speak of their triumphs first?"

"I shall Praetor." The centurion in charge of the entire expedition of the Second and Fourth Cohorts rose from his seat and saluted Naruto, his fist over his armored heart. "I am Centurion Uzumaki, commander of the Fourth Cohort of the Orange Legion of the Uzumaki Empire reporting in and I have many things to share with you, the Legate, and my fellow centurions." A grin stretched over his lips, one identical to the one Naruto wore when he was nothing but pleased with events. On the table, a box was set before Naruto and his grin seemed to widen. "Within this box lies the artifact."

The room became dead silent. It seemed all those present barely cared to breathe with what was set before them.

"Are you sure of it?" Naruto's voice carried with it nothing as his blue eyes stayed locked on the box in front of him. "Are you certain this is the artifact you were commanded to retrieve?"

"I have staked my life on my certainties the moment I presented it to you, Praetor." The centurion bowed his head and Naruto didn't spend any moment longer in anticipation. He drew the knife that rested at the small of his back, the same as the knife of all those that sat in the room, and removed the bindings. The box was opened and his eyes beheld the contents inside.

"This shall do." He leaned back against his chair as the Uchiha turned away, rubbing at his eyes before they turned back to black.

"The power of the artifact your pursued is quite extraordinary, Praetor." Sasuke continued to rub at his eyes as they only continued to burn after observing the great power of the artifact. "The sheer amount of Chakra pouring out of it is truly incredible. The mightiest of the Tailed Beasts could hardly stand without fear before a wielder of such formidable strength."

"I was counting on such a thing." Naruto resealed the box and nodded to the Centurion of the Second Cohort. "You have done very well to bring the artifact to me undamaged. Its power will serve not only my Legion well but my grand Uzumaki Empire as well." He pushed the box to the side and his eyes once again roamed over those presents. "Who else wishes to speak of their triumphs?"

"I shall Praetor." The Centurion of the Third Cohort rose with his fist over his heart. He unrolled a scroll in his hands and set it on the table and seals spread across it were suddenly aglow with Chakra. In front of each of the leaders of the Orange Legion appeared the contents of said scroll. "I am Centurion Uzumaki, commander of the Third Cohort of the Orange Legion of the Uzumaki Empire and I bring word of the situation in your newest lands to you, the Legate, and my fellow centurions."

"None of this looks bad." The Centurion of the First Cohort spoke as his eyes moved over the information presented to him. "It seems that glory has brought with it a great prosperity."

"The lands of my Uzumaki Empire will not be given the title of squalor." Naruto's voice carried across the room before nearly chilling blue eyes turned to the standing centurion. "What information is not present in this scroll, centurion?"

"Zabuza Momichi proves himself very capable Praetor." A seal was covered by the palm of the centurion's hand. "He continues his assignment and Nami no Kuni is without setback to your plans with Kaiza as Vicarius. The people of your new lands hold no ill will to the man and he had proven capable of increasing many of our more laborious efforts to greater and greater heights." The image before their eyes shifted as Sasuke's Sharingan reappeared in the space of a blink with the artifact no longer causing issues with its uncontained power. "Soon a grand fleet shall be ready for your use Praetor and the soldiers of the Third Cohort shall be ready and able sailors ready to sail wherever you command."

"This is good news." Naruto looked towards the Legate of his Orange Legion at the end of the table. "What do you think of the idea of such a grand fleet, Legate?"

"Only the glory of your great Legion and Empire matters Praetor." The Legate's red eyes flashed as they moved from the display in front of him to the eyes of ruler of the Uzumaki Empire that sat before him. "My only issue with such a fleet would be how swiftly it could be created and the quality of the quantity of ships needed to move your grand force in any invasion."

"The merits of such a thing cannot be overstated." From his seat next to Naruto on the right the Centurion of the Tenth Cohort spoke. He was one of the centurions farthest from the Legate in terms of where he sat and tied for second to Praetor with the Centurion of the First Cohort. "Building a truly great fleet will take time and much material but with the wealth taken from Gato, it is not unthinkable. It is unlikely the people of Nami no Kuni will deny those they have deemed to be their protectors a magnificent fleet either."

"Indeed." The Centurion of the Seventh Cohort spoke and blue eyes turned to the Legate he did not sit far from, only the Centurion of the Sixth and Centurion of the Fifth separating the two. "A fleet will take years to build and with it can come the assurance of quality befitting the Uzumaki Empire."

"If I am so opposed than I see no reason to discuss the certainty of a fleet for Praetor's glorious Legion any further." Sasuke looked toward each of the centurions that had spoken out, his Sharingan drifting from one to the other, before settling on the eyes of the Centurion of the Third Cohort. "With all that has been spoken I see no reason to let this one point be ignored by any who speak on it. Do not feel insulted when I ask this Centurion Uzumaki but it is something I must know as Legate of the glorious Orange Legion of Praetor's Uzumaki Empire. How capable the soldiers of the Third Cohort shall be when the fleet you have proposed is at last ready to set sail?"

"They shall be some of the finest in the land. I already have a century beginning their training on smaller trade vessels. I will advance them when they do not fall to the greatest trials of the sea." The Centurion of the Third Cohort turned to Naruto once he had finished speaking to the Legate. "Praetor," He bowed his head and saluted Naruto. ", that is all I have to report."

"This meeting has already been enlightening." Naruto grinned as his eyes moved over his centurions once more. "The artifact I have sought after has at last been given to me and now I hear words of a great fleet being built for my army to sail upon the greatest and fiercest of waves onboard. No conquest has yet proven unobtainable and it seems soon my Uzumaki Empire will stretch from sea to sea." The blonde leaned back in his chair. "Let us continue this meeting and see what else I shall learn of what future glory awaits me."

"One thing to note is the work of Tenten, Praetor." The Centurion of the First Cohort pressed his finger to a mark on the table and a scroll appeared before all of its occupants. "She is quite skilled to do what she has done to our equipment." The scrolls were unrolled by all present. "She is eager to see our weapons and improve them."

"I have heard of it." Naruto sat the scroll down after his eyes had taken in its content. "Her excitement is admirable but she will not gain any more knowledge of my Legion than what is necessary. We already have the plans from the old fool from Nami no Kuni to develop into the great weapons they will be. She may examine the blueprints later but she will not be given anything more than is necessary."

"It is not outlandish to believe she should gain some rank within the Legion if her exuberance does not fade given time." The Centurion of the Fifth Cohort closely examined the scroll before him. "Her knowledge of weapons is not something to be understated by many of us. The benefits she would bring to your glorious Legion and magnificent Empire should not be ignored, Praetor."

"I do not wish to debate this with you, my centurions." Naruto slid the scroll away from him and instead glanced towards the Legate of his Legion. "Legate Sasuke, what do you have to say of such a thing, allowing a girl like Tenten to enter the ranks of my Legion?"

"I know nothing of this girl, Praetor and can only defer to your judgement." Sasuke did not move the scroll away. "Her designs are great and the wide array of new tactics implementing some of them cannot be understated. The soldiers of your Legion will be quick to adapt to any new technologies of warfare and the adjustment period, if any, shall be brief. The weapons you have the First Cohort constructing are things that will take time without one well versed in their uses. If she does come to join the ranks of your Legion, she would provide a great degree of insight and knowledge on the weapons you intend to aid your magnificent Legion in your many conquests."

"Your opinion is clear Legate." The Centurion of the Second Cohort turned his eyes away from the Uchiha and towards the leader of the Orange Legion and the Uzumaki Empire. "What is your verdict on such a thing, Praetor?"

"It is pointless to debate this all now." Naruto looked at all the eyes focused on him. "I have not yet met the girl you all seem so intent to focus on. Schedule a meeting between the Legate and myself and her. It can be here or it can be somewhere in the village." He turned to look at the Praefectus Castrorum of the Praetorians behind him. "See to it that the area is secured, no matter where we are to meet."

"There will be nothing your Praetorians shall not know of." The Praefectus Castrorum's answer received nothing but a nod from the Uzumaki.

"Good." Naruto turned his focus back to the Cohort Centurions and Legate in front of him and grinned. "What other business is there to discuss?"

"Much." The Legate channeled Chakra to a seal on the table. "The training you commissioned across the Legion." Numerous scrolls appeared in front of each of the leaders of the Orange Legion. "I have had the reports compiled and summarized for this meeting."

"Interesting." It was all Naruto spoke as he looked over the information the scroll contained. "Very interesting."

It would be written down in the records of that meeting that the smile of Naruto Uzumaki did not dim that day.

* * *

AN: One left.


	11. Drinks and An Old Friend!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: 4 out of 4.

* * *

"I'm glad you two could make it." Gai grinned up from where he sat at his fellow two Shinobi. His choice of seating was a booth not too far from the entrance and he poured both a glass from the bottle resting on the table. The two slid into the side across from him and took up their drinks. "Unfortunately I don't think my rival will be joining us tonight."

"He's still training that pink haired girl?" Asuma put his cigarette out in an ashtray set off to the left before taking a drink from his glass. "I'm surprised he hasn't given up on her."

"He shouldn't." Kurenai's red eyes turned to Gai. "I don't think he made the wrong choice when it came to picking her over the other two."

"Come now Kurenai, his other two students are not that bad." Gai grinned as he poured himself a glass and set the bottle down. "Naruto has a great drive and Sasuke…well it is better he be occupied with Naruto's goal than his own at such an age."

"You're saying killing his brother is harder than world conquest you know." Asuma tipped back his drink, draining most of it, before setting the glass back down on the table. He sighed after a moment and rubbed at the side of his head. "With what I've heard about that kid since he left, you may be right."

"I am certain that there are lighter topics than this to discuss." Gai was not ignorant of the somber mood that had swiftly settled over the table at the reminder of heinous act committed by Itachi Uchiha against not only Konoha but his own family as well. "Let us discuss one of them instead of a traitor like him."

"The only other thing interesting to talk about is Kakashi's team." Kurenai's eyes drifted to the drink in her hand. "He's certainly not all talk from what I've seen of him so far. He could do with a little humility but with all those clones of his it's unlikely he'll ever get a chance to know what it is."

"The kid's going to start a war if my old man doesn't rein him in soon enough." Asuma substituted his cigarette by polishing off his drink and accepting the offered bottle from Gai and refilled it. "I wanted to do it the night Kakashi decided to pass that team of his but he decided to listen to that brat instead." The Sarutobi's tone was more than a little spiteful as he started on his second glass. "I wished he had so we wouldn't have to deal with the kid's ridiculous cockiness now."

"You're holding a grudge against a simple Genin you know." Gai's grin was a bit cheeky as he took the bottle back from the Sarutobi Clan member and somewhat echoed his earlier words. He sat the bottle back down on the table and looked to both of his fellow Jonin. "Since Kakashi is absence, it is boring to talk about his team so I shall instead begin the discussion on our own." Both Jonin hid their sighs at such a thing with a well-placed cough. Gai either didn't notice or ignored their reactions as his eyes shined with pride. "Lee's flames of youth truly burned bright today as he completed his sixth lap around Konoha on his hands with a boulder balanced on his feet. His passion for improvement and his dedication to becoming a Ninja of pure Taijutsu skills continues to astound me." Both swore they saw a tear come from Gai's eye as he spoke of his pupil. "That is not to say anything less of my other two students through. They both excelled at their own training today as Tenten has improved her accuracy against a dozen targets and Neji continues to impress me in our brief spars together. He even succeeded in countering several of my more pressing blows with his mastery of the Gentle Fist." Gai had swiftly ascended to the table, one foot planted on it as he rose his cup into the air. "I believe we must toast the great passion for the Will of Fire the Shinobi of this generation has shown us recently!"

"Yeah."

"Of course."

Both Kurenai and Asuma rose their glasses as Gai descended back to his seat and the three briefly touched their glasses together before downing them all at once. The bottle was once again held up by Gai and he refilled all three empty glasses before setting it down off to the side.

"Well…I don't know if my team is as impressive as yours but I'll give it a go." Asuma leaned forward, his free arm coming to rest on the table in front of him and he sighed. "Let's start off with Inoichi's kid, Ino." Kurenai briefly reached up and patted him on the shoulder. "She's…a different type of Kunoichi than I grew up knowing. She's got the Yamanaka Clan Hiden techniques down, the sensory skills she has are impressive for a Genin like her despite being from a Clan, and the rest of her skills aren't things to scoff at. Overall, a good third of this generation's Trio with plenty of potential. She would be one of the best of her class, perfect for the Ino-Shika-Cho, if she wasn't always talking about that Sasuke kid. It doesn't help that she won't stop going on and on about him unless I train her until she drops from sheer exhaustion. Not proud of it but I've done it more often than I should recently." He knocked back a third of his glass before continuing. "Next is Choji and he's a good kid. A regular Akimichi from the looks of it but he's got a helluva protective side." The Jonin smiled as he spoke. "On a mission a day ago, a quick run that just involved dropping a few things off, some kids from Iwagakure coming in for the Chunin Exams decided to pick a fight with the Ino-Shika-Cho team of their generation. I let it go since it was harmless and Shikamaru went down, got buried. Choji blew up and was about to smash the kid into a paste if Shikamaru didn't come out of the trees and tell him to forget about it." Amusement shined in his eyes as he remembered the sight. "The kid was cowering on the ground and, the entire time Shikamaru's talking to him, Choji's got his fist bigger than the rest of his body just hanging above the kid and ready to put it to use." A chuckle escaped the smoker before he could continue the story and Gai and Kurenai shared in it.

The fury of an Akimichi, especially when protecting a comrade, was legendary among more than a few Shinobi. It was especially prevalent for those that had been on the battlefields with them and seen them demolish entire enemy squads without mercy.

"Speaking of him, Shikamaru's been different these past few days." Asuma knocked back another third of his drink. "He's gotten more focused on training, talked to his dad about learning some more of the Nara Clan's Hiden techniques, and I've seen him out and around the village more instead of just cloud watching all day. He's determined to do something and, from how he's been in the past until Naruto showed back up, I'm guessing it has something to do with Kakashi's kid."

"I thought we weren't supposed to talk about Kakashi's team?" Kurenai tried to lighten the mood but Asuma merely threw back the rest of his drink and wordlessly accepted the bottle from Gai. She briefly frowned before turning back to the contents of her own glass, red eyes focused on the swirling liquid for a moment. "Since we're breaking that rule, I'm not holding anything back." She mirrored Asuma and downed some of her drink before continuing but not anywhere near as much, a fifth at best before setting it down. "Hinata's got a crush on Naruto and a major one." She sighed and Asuma reached out and took her hand into his. "She's been training more with her Byakugan and her Gentle Fist, improving by leaps and bounds really, but it's all so that she can try and impress him. She's even trying to convince Kiba and Shino to do the same before I enter them in the Chunin Exams. From what I've seen, she's succeeding at it too." Kurenai couldn't help herself but smile. "Those two are really just putty in her hands half the time."

"Man, I'm glad Ino's not able to do that with Shikamaru and Choji." Asuma seemed to shake in horror at such a thing and a still smiling Kurenai gently squeezed his hand.

"Tenten simply threatens her teammates into doing whatever she requires of them with a multitude of weapons." Gai's words, in addition to the way he spoke with his proud smile and customary thumb up, drew a look of almost concern from the two Jonin.

"You should probably talk to her about that Gai." Kurenai focused back on her story with that. "Kiba is an Inuzuka through and through. He's not afraid of most things, is never that far from Akamaru, and I'm pretty sure he has a crush on Hinata. It's nowhere near as bad as hers is for Naruto but it's not a small thing either. He's trying to get stronger now because he wants her to forget about Naruto, he's got the idea in his head that he's too dangerous for her to be around anymore." The red eyed Jonin sighed once more. "He's not wrong. That kid is going to be nothing but trouble for anyone around him with how he's acting and I don't want her, any of my team really, anywhere near him when people stop treating him like some kind of a bad joke. Kiba's been pushing himself harder and harder every day because he can't stand the idea of Hinata getting hurt when everything eventually blows up in his face. He's doing everything he can to make sure he can beat Naruto if it ever comes to it and I'm sure he can."

"That kid laying him out would knock him down a peg, that's for sure." Asuma looked to Gai. "What do you think?"

"I'm not so sure we should be encouraging conflict between our students." Gai refilled his drink and placed the empty bottle at the edge of the table where it was grabbed by a passing waiter. "Competition to promote drive is alright but competition out of a desire to inflict pain is not. The Will of Fire does not thrive off fuel filled with animosity. Such a thing dulls our springs of youth into something bitter and dark."

Asuma was about to respond when Kurenai cleared her throat.

"Before you two get into a debate, let me finish." Kurenai took a sip of her drink once she had gotten the two's attention. "Shino is a quiet boy. He keeps to himself and spends anytime not training in the Aburame's Hiden techniques or working on his insects, doing…well I'm not entirely sure what he does in his free time, or even if he has much of it." Her cheeks turned red and it was not due to the minor amount of alcohol she had ingested. "I honestly don't know much else about him even as his sensei. It's a bit embarrassing really."

"Aburame Clan members aren't exactly the most open of people." Asuma swirled his drink in the glass in his hand before taking a sip of it. "No shame in not knowing a lot about him. We haven't had teams for that long anyway. It'll be different in a couple months once he gets to know you."

"I hope so." Kurenai took the time to down the rest of her drink with Asuma following her.

"Well, this has been quite a talk." Gai reached into his pocket and paid the bill for the bottle without the waiter even bothering to approach. The three, normally four, Jonin were well known customers to the bar at this point and the owner didn't worry about them paying before they left. "I believe we have quite a few hours left before any of us have to leave."

"I've got a night mission coming up soon actually." Kurenai paid the tip as she and Asuma stepped out of the booth. "I've got about another hour or two before I need to meet my team at the gate and head out."

"You didn't tell me about that, when are you due back?" Asuma reached into his Flak Jacket and drew out a cigarette he placed between his lips before going for his lighter.

"I'll be back by noon tomorrow." Kurenai smiled as she patted him on the arm as she stepped past him. "Happy now that I told you?"

"Maybe." Asuma followed after her and Gai merely shook his head ruefully at the two.

'The flames of passion burn greater than many others between those two.' He smiled as he followed after the two and stepped outside the bar with a wave of goodbye to the waiter.

Neither of the two Jonin seemed to have any intention of moving away from the door and Gai swiftly pinpointed the reason why such a thing was the case.

"Yugao?" Gai looked to the purple haired woman he knew was an ANBU Black Ops agent. She was dressed as a Chunin though and her boyfriend, Hayate Gekko, stood with her. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm out with Hayate for one." Yugao smiled at the exuberant Shinobi with the two Shinobi's arms interlocked. "And two, we're heading to go spy on Kakashi." The gleam in her eyes, something familiar to the three Jonin standing in front of her, promised a certain level of mischief. "Want to come?"

"To spy on my eternal rival as he trains his students?" Gai smiled as he gave her a thumb up. "I shall join you and excel at such a task!"

"I'll be embarrassed if Gai's better at spying than me." Kurenai locked arms with Asuma and pulled him forward. "What do you two think about us heading off with the happy couple?"

The way Kurenai's eyes shined in the dying light of the sun and the way Hayate silently told them to give up made both Shinobi nod. Asuma found himself pulled forward as Kurenai walked and talked with Yugao and Gai only chuckled as he followed after them at a more, for him, sedate pace.

His eyes never left their new purple haired companion.

'You're up to something Yugao…but what is it?' His thoughts on the Kenjutsu practitioner would plague him the entire time the group moved through the streets and, eventually, across the rooftops until they reached the entrance to Training Ground 7.

"HOO!"

"HOO!"

"HOO!"

Trees made the ground shake as they fell one after the other, crumbling down and uprooting the local wildlife in a flurry of movement. Birds took to the skies to escape the crumbling foliage, bugs whizzed past their ears or hopped away, and smaller wildlife like rabbits darted to and fro from the underbrush.

"Those clones must like cutting down trees."

"LIFT!"

"HOO!"

"MARCH!"

"HOO!"

The five Shinobi swiftly made themselves scarce as the clones of Naruto marched past moments later, a dozen or so devoted to moving each large tree in its entirely from the training ground to someplace else. One of his centurions walked with them, his eyes darting back and forth as he lead them to wherever their destination was.

"Wonder what they're using all that wood for." Asuma had put out his cigarette once the quintuplet of Shinobi had begun to move and now sorely wished for it back to deal with the approaching headache as his mind tried to find a reason. "Man, this is going to be a drag."

"Don't borrow you're student's catchphrase." Kurenai smiled at him as Yugao emerged from where she had hidden herself and dropped down to the floor of the forest. She motioned for the other four Shinobi to follow her and they did so as she bounded through the trees.

Another wordless signal brought them to a stop a few minutes later.

"Again." It had been easy for Kurenai to remove the Genjutsu around the two Shinobi and now the five observed from the trees.

Sakura slowly rose after being hit into the ground by Kakashi, wincing as she held her stomach before she darted forward. Wisps of Chakra erupted from her feet and her speed more than doubled as she threw a rather decent combination of blows forward. It was at least something a Taijutsu master like Gai would appreciate as she avoided taking too strong a stance, flowing from one blow to the next and they ranged from straight jabs to kicks.

Kakashi avoided her entire assault before his foot lashed out and planted itself in her chest. She went skidding back across the ground end over end, only coming to a stop when her back hit an already existing obstacle that proved insurmountable to the force of the Jonin's blow. It was one of the three wooden posts that Kakashi would have normally already tied at least one of his students to yet so far he hadn't made use of them. The Jonin lowered his foot back down slowly and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Again."

Sakura groaned as she rose back to her feet and Gai could tell she would be nursing at least a dozen bruises tomorrow once she woke up. She nearly fell back to the ground the moment she had risen to her feet and one hand pressed against the wooden post at her side to steady herself. She took one step forward before using it as a launching point and rocketing forward.

"Has anyone ever told you you're a natural at Taijutsu?" Kakashi avoided her newest assault with ease, dodging from side to side as she unleashed blow after blow against him.

Sakura didn't bother answering his question as Kakashi was actually successfully struck by her Chakra shrouded fist. He immediately exploded into a burst of smoke and the real Kakashi silently appeared behind her, a kunai held to her throat and she only released a sigh.

"Good natural strength by the way." Kakashi removed the deadly tool from her neck and returned it to its place at his side. "You're getting better if you took out my Sha-"

"SHANNARO!" She struck him and he once again burst into smoke before she rose one foot into the air and brought it down with force on the ground.

It simply erupted outward from the impact of her foot, blue lines of Chakra racing through the growing divide between segments of earth before a silver topped blur emerged from one and was airborne. His arms were a blur before he brought one hand to his mask and blew out a stream of water that swiftly flooded the battlefield. Sakura cried out as she was swept away in the sudden crushing wave and slammed into the lake behind her, hitting it with a great splash.

"You're getting pretty good Sakura." Kakashi casually crouched on the shore next to the water logged pink haired Genin after she had mostly dragged herself out of the water. "Just a couple days ago you would still be out in the middle of the lake."

"Ow." Her head fell onto the soft mud. "My everything hurts." Her voice was muffled but still clear.

Kakashi patted her on the back of her soaked clothes.

"Don't worry. That just means you're getting stronger." He smiled at her beneath his mask and Sakura offered a weak grin of her own even as her eyelids slowly lost the battle to stay open.

"That means…" She yawned and drifted off before she could finish what she was saying. Kakashi slowly shook his head, no malicious intent behind it, before he drew the pink haired Genin up and into his arms. He ignored the way that her soaking wet clothes let water seep into his Flak Jacket and instead vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Looks like that girl isn't as weak as I thought or from what Ino told me." Asuma swiftly lit a cigarette as he spoke. "If Kakashi's training her himself, she's got to have at least some talent."

'Good for you Kakashi.' Gai couldn't help but smile after what he had seen. 'We shall see who has the better pupil sooner rather than later.'

* * *

AN: Well, I'm of a mixed feeling of these 4 actually. On one hand, I did what I wanted to with the Legion. On the other, a few things simply don't click with me...Whatever.

Also, King of Konoha, I hope this has cleared up everything for you when it comes to Sakura. If not? Give me a a few more chapters and I'll definitely make it clear. Or just PM me.

Onward to replies:

BetaZackFan: Read something exciting then. There's not much else I can do when it comes to Orange Legion.

tastybigsexy: I'll post the origins of the Legion eventually. Or just PM me and I'll just answer.

Guest: Thank you.

Delicious Cookie: I discovered I can't write crack in the process of writing Orange Legion. Good on you for pointing that out. Want to know something? I was originally going to have the Legion pray to some ramen god but I cut that bit out before I posted this.

Well that's it. PM me any questions or leave a review.

Peace.


	12. The Chunin Exams Arrive!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full Chapter Title: The Chunin Exams Arrive! Who Are Konoha's Entrants?

* * *

The sound of clashing blades resounded through one of the clearings of Training Ground 7.

"Is that all you have Legate?" Naruto and Sasuke's blades were locked in a clash, their shields left on the ground as they battled against the strength of the other. "I thought you would be better than this!"

"I thought I would go easy on you Praetor." Sasuke's red and black eyes flashed with challenge as he drew back and darted forward. Sparks flew as Naruto narrowly parried the blow before surging forward and his armored shoulder planted itself into the Uchiha's armored chest. He was thrown back but quickly recovered, rolling back onto his feet, and throwing his entire being into the next overhead swing of his sword. Naruto rose his own blade to counter and the two once again clashed, Naruto's horizontal block stopping Sasuke's vertical slash. The two struggled against each other for only a moment before Sasuke's sandal clad foot struck out and planted itself into Naruto's armored stomach.

The Uzumaki let out a grunt as he was sent stumbling back and the Legate of his Orange Legion charged forward to press his attack when his free hand flew out and knocked his head to the side with a straight punch. His weapon came free of his grip at the suddenness of the attack. He recovered swiftly but didn't charge forward into the fray, he rubbed at his jaw with his now free hand. Naruto only offered him a smirk to the look he received and Sasuke's eyes once again flashed as he brought his fist into his palm.

"It looks like we're resorting to fists then." The Uchiha rolled his shoulders as he brought his hands up, balled into fists. "I'll show you my hand to hand skills then." Sasuke rushed forward and Naruto held his sword forward to meet him in a one handed grip.

The Uchiha avoided his swing and slammed into him, throwing him back, as his hands came up and took hold of his sword bearing arm. Naruto's single arm wrestled against the might of two as his other attempted to push Sasuke away. Eventually his attacker forced his sword from his hand when he jerked it towards the ground. The blonde struggled for a moment longer before falling as Sasuke threw him over his shoulder and to the ground. As he fell, his legs crossed and his back struck the ground with Naruto's own as he tried to pull at the arm bar he now had. Naruto's fingers had locked together as quickly as possible and now pulled to keep his arm from being lost to Sasuke's hold.

"Tricky." Naruto grinned despite the situation he found himself in. "You're deceptively good Sasuke."

"Consider it my duty to keep you wary of me." Sasuke wrenched his hold but failed to rip Naruto's hands apart. The Praetor's strength was too much it seemed.

"Let me show you why I am leader of this Legion." Naruto surprised the Uchiha when he seemed to effortlessly rise to his feet despite the weight of the Uchiha to one side. He failed to even stagger and with a grin he threw himself down with great force. Sasuke, to his credit, did not even consider releasing the hold. Naruto then did it again with more force. The Uchiha continued to refuse to release the hold so Naruto rose again rose to his full height.

"You don't know when to give up." Naruto almost felt the need to curse before he threw Sasuke onto the ground once more but this time did not rise. He forced the Uchiha to bear his full weight on his shoulders as he tried to bend him in half with his armored form.

Sasuke released his hold on his arm, the Uchiha rolling to the side and coming up at his fallen sword. He drew it up into the air as Naruto chuckled as he crouched down and drew up his own blade. Both spun the tools of death in their hands and were set to begin the duel again.

"What's up?" Kakashi wordlessly appeared between the two with his hand raised in greeting. His appearance had successfully stopped them and already Naruto's Praetorians advanced behind the blonde until a raised hand stopped them. He spoke no words but his blue eyes did not leave Kakashi's form. "I need to talk to all three of you so show up at those posts I should have tied you to a while ago." He vanished without getting a response but didn't miss Naruto's chuckle.

"I will enjoy the day I am presented with Silver Fang's head." Naruto returned his sword to its place at his side and looked to his sparring partner. "Inform the entirety of my glorious Legion to hold their positions for now. I believe only the two of us will need to move."

"Of course Praetor." Sasuke's fist rested over his armored heart before he pressed a finger to his ear. "Praetor orders his glorious Orange Legion to hold their positions for now. Praetor and I will speak with Silver Fang before issuing further orders."

"You are dismissed for now, Praetorians." Naruto looked to his personal bodyguards and as one they fell to a knee and bowed their head to him before vanishing from sight. Sasuke's Sharingan looked over the entire encounter as he walked up to his side.

"Let us depart, Legate." Naruto walked off without glancing to make sure the Legate of his Legion was following him.

He knew he was because he had no choice.

"Asuma-sensei, what is this meeting about?" The latest iteration of the Ino-Shika-Cho sat across from him at the restaurant they would probably become a regular presence in, Yakiniki Q. While Choji was busy roasting a good portion of the food on the table and Ino was making sure he didn't burn anything, Shikamaru asked the question that they all had.

"Well, you all know the Chunin Exams is coming up soon, right?" Asuma looked across the table at each of the capable Genin placed in his hands. "I'm sure you all know that Gai's already announced to half the village his team will be competing and I'm sure Kurenai will be doing the same with her own either tonight or tomorrow morning." He offered all three a proud smile. "You three are incredible Shinobi and I'm not planning to have you wait for the promotion you deserve. I've got the paperwork nearly done, you three just need to sign on the dotted line." To prove his point, he withdrew the paperwork from his Flak Jacket and laid it down in front of them. "I know you three are ready but if-"

"I thought we wouldn't get the chance until next year honestly." Shikamaru flipped through the first few sheets and seemed bored with it after a while, flipping through the rest as he searched for where to sign his name. "I'm glad to get such a drag out of the way now."

"What Shikamaru said." Choji was multitasking, focusing on both the food and flipping through the paperwork in front of him.

"You really didn't think we would refuse, did you?" Ino almost laughed at the very idea as she signed her name on the dotted line, Choji and Shikamaru echoing her with the paperwork in front of them. "If you think we're ready then we're definitely becoming Chunin." They handed them back as one. "We don't intend to do anything but excel in the Chunin Exams."

"Yeah, we'll make Chunin no problem." Shikamaru offered him a lazy smile. "Besides, not making Chunin would be too troublesome for a guy like me."

"If you put your faith in us, we won't make you regret it." Choji gave him a resolute nod.

"You guys could never manage to disappoint me." The Jonin accepted the paperwork and sealed it away to turn in later. "If we're being honest, I'm not worried for you three at all. I know you'll ace any exams they give you thanks to how well you work together. I'm more concerned with what you'll do to your competition."

"Yeah, they should be worried." Ino threw her arms over the shoulder of the boy on either side of her. "Ino-Shika-Cho is an unbeatable force when we're together. Everyone in the Chunin Exams is about to learn that the hard way when we mop the floor with them."

"Yeah…or hopefully they all just give up and we don't have to do anything." Ino's arm tightened on Shikamaru and he nearly choked as she smiled at him. "But we're definitely going to beat them all because Ino's the greatest Kunoichi to ever live."

'Smart kid.' Asuma couldn't help but compliment the Genin's danger sense.

"Thank you Shikamaru."

"You're welcome…please stop choking me now."

Elsewhere, Team 8 sat in front of their Jonin sensei. Training had just finished for the day and all three were catching their breath as Kurenai debated revealing her surprise for them now or tomorrow morning.

'Asuma's probably already told his team, everyone in the Land of Fire knows Gai put his team in, and Kakashi's putting in his brats…it'll be embarrassing for me to be the odd one out. Especially if their teams get promoted to Chunin and mine stay Genin.' Kurenai let out a near irritated sigh. 'I've got to put them in even if I don't think they're ready.'

It was true that her team was capable but all three lacked in some areas.

Hinata was still breaking free of her timid nature even if she was progressing by leaps and bounds in her Taijutsu and usage of the Byakugan. Kurenai may have found herself disagreeing with the motivation for the change but she couldn't deny her pupil's progress. She had been growing stronger and stronger every day since she had committed herself to her training.

Kiba was a monster at Taijutsu and his synchronization with Akamaru for a variety of techniques ranging from tracking to sheer destruction was nothing to laugh at. His Chakra reserves were impressive for a Genin and his endurance was another positive. He was simply too hot-heated sometimes to effectively think. He was more prone to leap into danger than find the right approach.

Shino was great at his Clan's Hiden techniques but was lacking in many other areas where his Kikaichu couldn't help him. His Taijutsu was simply the bear minimum, based around blocking and planting the bugs on his opponent. His Ninjutsu was average for his Clan and his Chakra was the same for any Aburame thanks to the Kikaichu. He excelled at information gathering in the end.

Her team, when together and synchronized, was one of the better tracking and combat force she had seen and she had been working on developing Combination Jutsu with them in pairs and as a group. They had complained at first but once she had mentioned the opportunity to outclass the Ino-Shika-Cho iteration of their generation they had been given enough motivation to focus their all on her rather strange training methods at times. Her team was great together but once the Chunin Exams passed on to individual trials? She didn't feel very confident in their abilities to all pass. The type of competition they would be up against and the fatality rate of the Chunin Exams were all things she had to consider.

"Kurenai-sensei, may I ask something?" Hinata's soft voice snapped her out of her thoughts. The red eyed Jonin turned her eyes away from her thoughts and towards the Hyuga.

"What is it Hinata?" She pushed off of the tree she was leaning against as she focused on her thoughts and the meek Hyuga brought the tips of her fingers together. She had trouble making eye contact with the Jonin but that was to be expected. She was gaining confidence but it was a slow process when compared to her improvements in her skills.

"I-I was just wondering if…well I was wondering if we would be entered into the Ch-Chunin exams?" She found the confidence to look her sensei in the eyes then. A fire was burning in them despite how nervous she appeared. She wanted to enter the exams. A glance to the rest of her team revealed the same fire, the same determination she would want to praise them for in any other situation. None of them wanted to be left behind by their friends, they wanted to advance to greatness together with them. They wanted to test themselves, see how strong they truly were. They wanted to represent their village, carry the Will of Fire through trial after trial, and carry their own pride, familial and personal, with it.

'Dammit.' Kurenai wanted to say no to them in that instance. 'None of you are ready for this. None of you are ready to fight people trying to kill you, fight the monsters I know are heading into that exam but…I can't say no when you all want this so bad.'

"I'm glad you brought that up Hinata." Kurenai let a smile cover her face as she held out her hand, the required paperwork appearing in her hand and she tossed it to each of the three Genin. "I finished signing all of the paperwork for entering you guys this morning and all you need to do is sign on the dotted line." None of the three noticed her smile was a bit too rigid as she watched them all, even the normally stoic and reclusive Shino, eagerly flip through the packet to find where they had to sign. "Once you sign up, I'll deliver it to the Hokage Office and we'll go out and celebrate."

'I hope I don't regret letting them do this.' She didn't want any of her students to die because she couldn't tell them no. 'Please, let me not regret this.'

Team 7 was also meeting.

"HA! These exams shall know the glory of the Legion when I become a champion above all champions. I shall be the one standing above all those who seek to lay claim to the title of Chunin and none shall surpass my might. There shall be no hope of defeating my glorious Legion!" Naruto's response to Kakashi's statement of signing them up was almost predictable. He threw his head back and laughed for nearly a full minute before speaking. When he looked to the masked Shinobi his lips curled into a bloodthirsty grin that the Jonin before him had seen before. Pretty much every time the Uzumaki or his clones looked at him when they thought he wasn't paying attention. They had different expressions but the same bloodlust was in them all. "I will enjoy this challenge Silver Fang as it will prove to all that my Uzumaki Empire's Orange Legion marches solely with glory through all challenges and trials!"

"Alright then." Kakashi turned to Sasuke next. "What do you have to say about this, Sasuke?"

"I shall follow Praetor's glorious footsteps." Sasuke turned and saluted the Uzumaki with the customary salute of the Orange Legion. "His Orange Legion shall know only the glory of triumph as he rises above all those foolish enough to act as challengers in these Chunin Exams."

"Alright then." Kakashi replied with the same and looked to Sakura last. "What do you think Pinky?"

"I'm sure we'll be fine in the Exams." Sakura didn't meet Kakashi's single visible eye and it somewhat narrowed, a thing that neither Naruto's blue eyes nor Sasuke's red and black eyes missed.

"Sakura-chan shall be carried to glory by my glorious Orange Legion." Naruto stepped towards Kakashi with a hand falling to the hilt of his sword. "All those who face myself or my team shall know the cold specter of death when the steel of my Legion cuts their flesh and draws their blood."

"Alright then." Kakashi's response fell from his lips for the third time before he reached into a pocket of his Flak Jacket and withdrew a scroll which he tossed to Naruto and his hands slipped into his pocket. "I named you Team Leader for that business in Nami no Kuni so the same will go for when you head into the mess they call the Second Stage of the Chunin Exams. You three can decide amongst yourselves on who's in charge for the First Sage and Third Stage."

"You have made a good and poor decision Silver Fang." Naruto turned and his Praetorians rose from where they had knelt once he had arrived. "I shall be the leader of all three Stages and shall be sure that all know my glorious leadership was what gave Team 7 the status of Chunin."

He did not spend any more time in the training grounds with the Jonin, marching off with the Praetorians encircling himself and the Legate of his Orange Legion in a sudden appearance.

"That went about just as I thought it would." Kakashi rubbed at his uncovered eye as Sakura stepped up to him. "You three are going to have a massive target painted on your backs among the Konoha entrants and I'm sure Naruto will do something to draw the ire of literally everyone in the exams to him. If you do make it through all the way and all become Chunin then I'm sure he will never stop bragging about it. Especially if he does beat everyone who goes up against him…something I'm partly sure he can pull off even if the deck is stacked against him."

"The promotion to Chunin is the decision of the Hokage in the end, right?" Sakura looked up at the Jonin and he nodded and she frowned. "He has a soft spot for Naruto and he's not terrible at being a Shinobi when he feels like it. He also has enough Chakra to support all the Kage Bunshin he has to make an army. He's smart enough to command them and knows how to use them to get what he wants. Any Daimyo that shows up for the Third Stage of the Chunin Exams will be impressed with him and want to hire him to get the quantity he brings to every mission. He'll probably get an even bigger ego as a result of that." Sakura sighed as another thought came to her. "He'll probably also conquer more things if he takes so many missions."

"His track record isn't that good for not conquering." Kakashi looked up towards the clouds as most members of a shadow using clans were prone to do and tried to find answers in them. "Whatever the outcome is for Naruto, you will need to put on a good showing against whoever you go up against in the Second and Third Stages. I'm sure Sasuke is a guaranteed Chunin from what I've seen of him and that fact that he's the last Uchiha in Konoha."

"So the deck is stacked against me then?" Sakura only received a nod from the Jonin and she managed a small smile despite the rather negative situation she found herself in. "I'm sure I can manage to impress the judges, Kakashi-sensei. You're the one teaching me after all."

"I know." Kakashi's mask moved as he offered the world his own smile. "Once you manage to get pass the Second Stage, I'll have a month to train you against whatever opponent is unlucky enough to get matched up with you."

Her smile turned a bit more sadistic then.

"They won't know what hit them." Her hands balled into fists at her side and Kakashi nodded.

"They won't."

All in all, despite the large number of Genin Konoha had that passed a rather peculiar Genin Test, not a large portion of the teams entered the exams. Of all the teams that entered the most notable ones where Team Gai, a team that passed on entering last year's Exams despite their skillset nearly guaranteeing promotion, Team Asuma, the current generation's Ino-Shika-Cho Trio, Team Kurenai, a team of heirs from the prestigious Hyuga, feral Inuzuka, and stoic Aburame Clans, and Team Kakashi, the first Genin Team that the Jonin in charge had ever passed.

The Hokage broke out the sake to deal with the future headaches he would have to deal with thanks to the roster for the Exams.

* * *

AN: 4 again for this update. 1 of 4.


	13. Time to Meet the Competition!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full Chapter Title: Time to Meet the Competition! The Exam's First Stage Begins!

* * *

"Kakashi, it is great to see you arrive with such unexpected punctuality!" Gai and his team had been in front of the doors for several minutes when the silver haired Jonin had walked in with his team. It was surprising, almost heart stopping for some cases, to see the silver haired Jonin arrive not only not late but early. "I take it from your presence here your team wishes to take part in the Chunin Exams just as mine and no doubt many others?"

"I figure the sooner they become Chunin, the sooner I can stop being a responsible sensei." Kakashi shrugged his shoulders as he walked over to his fellow Jonin along with the three armored Genin. "I'll be off the hook if they end up dying during the Exams too so I have a lot of ways to win here."

"You should not be so morbid Kakashi! Where is your excitement at the display of the talent the current generation holds these tests and trials shall provide a mere glimpse of? I myself can hardly keep my excitement contained at the thought of what I will see!" Gai offered a beaming smile as he gestured to the six Genin that were between the two Jonin. "The Genin of both my team and your own have amazing potential that we as their teachers have had the honor to draw forth! We should look upon this day with pride and, no matter the outcome of the exams, carry it with us for the rest of our youthful days!"

"We were supposed to do something like that?" Kakashi rubbed the back of his head as he chuckled. "I kind of kept throwing missions at them until I got bored and went home."

"Why must your flame of youth be so dull my rival?" Gai seemed almost depressed as his body seemed to fold in on itself. A dark aura briefly consumed the Jonin and the Genin around them took a step away. "You should truly cherish the ability to draw forth the talents of your pupils."

"No one really explained this sensei thing to me in detail." Kakashi shrugged his shoulders once more as he patted the Uchiha on the head. "But I've got a genius like Sasuke to do that stuff for me, right?" He looked down to the Genin that would have preferred to not have the Jonin's hand on his head.

"The skills of Praetor's glorious Legion shall reflect my skills more than my own skills ever could." Sasuke turned and threw his hand out towards Naruto. "The might of his Legion will be the true measurement of the skills of those foolish enough to battle against him."

"Really?" Neji spoke up from in front of Gai, the Hyuga looking towards the Uzumaki with pale eyes that carried with them more arrogance than his stance betrayed. "The former dead last is going to be what we all have to measure ourselves against?" He almost laughed as he spoke. "That only shows how far Konoha has fallen to base ourselves on a failure like him."

"Your words have made you drift into dangerous territory Hyuga." Naruto's blue eyes were dark as he looked to the Hyuga before him. "Do not imagine yourself superior to a man such as myself simply because you know a pitiful way of combat. You shall fall like all others before the glory of my Legion no matter your words. They may only help you suffer greater than I originally planned before killing you."

"You are deluded enough to call the Gentle Fist pitiful?" Neji sneered at the Uzumaki. "The Gentle Fist is a tool to decide the fate of any who go against it." He stepped towards the Uzumaki and rose his hands up as he stepped into a basic stance. "Do you need me to show you how powerless you are against the decider of fate?"

"If you seek the disgrace of defeat, I shall gladly take you on." Sasuke spoke up from Naruto's side, his Sharingan flashing with challenge.

"It doesn't matter which of you I face." Neji had decided his opponent as his Byakugan swiftly took hold as the veins around his eyes bulged. "I will defeat both of you during the Chunin Exams regardless."

"Show him his error Legate." Naruto turned away as Sasuke nodded and drew his sword from his side.

Kakashi did nothing to stop the soon to be fight as more Genin began to arrive, both from Konoha and those outside of the village. A cursory glance showed Iwa, Suna, Kumo, and Kiri had sent a good handful of teams each to the Exams. One of the Kumo Jonin also eyed the fight with her interest astoundingly clear to the Copy Ninja.

"Well, Gai, looks like my team is fighting yours." Kakashi put his hands behind his head as he stood off to the side of the swiftly growing circle as Sasuke spun the blade in his hands before bringing the flat of the blade against his shield, letting the sound ring out around them, and Neji let out an exhale before he was a blur of motion.

The shield on Sasuke's arm was thrown forward and stopped the initial flurry of Gentle Fist strikes and Neji withdrew as his Byakugan allowed him to analyze the Uchiha's entire stance for the obvious weakness: The shield on his arm slowed him down considerably. It also blocked his vision by a wide margin, his Sharingan rendered less effective thanks to it. The Hyuga darted forward but moved to the side, avoiding the shield as it was thrown forward to knock him off his feet. The Uchiha stood no chance to stop him now as he began his next series of blows as he swiftly turned within the Uchiha's guarrd. The tenketsu in his arms were easy targets and it was even easier to seal them in rapid succession.

"You're arm's going numb, correct?" Neji drew back as the Uchiha's sword clattered to the ground from limp fingers. His Sharingan seemed to constrict, the tomoe drawing in to the center, before returning to normal. It made the corners of Neji's lips move up in a smirk. "I see you're having difficulty with maintaining your Sharingan as well."

"Your strikes are ineffective." Sasuke drove his shield into the floor and swept up his sword in his usable arm. "You won't be able to strike me again."

"You fool." Neji shook his head, mocking the Uchiha. "Fate has already decided this battle."

The Hyuga began his attack again. The Sharingan followed his fingertips as Sasuke's body moved, deftly avoiding each of the strikes even with his numb arm swinging beyond his control and swiftly proving itself a hassle.

'Dammit.' He couldn't spare a glance at his arm but the Hyuga's initial attack had rendered his strategy to end the fight quickly useless. He couldn't form hand seals with one arm numb. He couldn't rely on his backup strategy either with his shield more of a burden than he would like to admit. 'I've got to end it this another way.'

The Uchiha pulled back, his sword spinning in the air as he threw a kunai towards the Hyuga. It was something deftly avoided as the sword was buried point first into the ground. The Legate of the Orange Legion filled his usable hand with shuriken which he flung forward with accuracy befitting of the Uchiha prodigy. He looked down towards his arm in that instance and observed the developing bruises on it. He cursed as he realized just how long the Hyuga's attack on his tenketsu had rendered it worthless. His invading Chakra completely blocked the flow of his own. To break it he would need to brute force his way through the foreign Chakra blocks with a surge of his own, something costly in battle as it took focus and, for a battle between Shinobi, a significant amount of time.

'I have just the thing.' His eyes left his arm as he darted forward and ripped his sword free of the ground. He charged towards the Hyuga and their eyes locked. Neji quickly closed his eyes and ran an internal scan of himself using his Byakugan. He found nothing as he avoided the Uchiha's rapid swings and the Hyuga could only internally grin as he settled into a new Gentle Fist stance.

'Fate has decided this battle at last.' The Uchiha was completely open after his last swing. He was drawing his arm back and his footing left him unable to dodge his next strike.

"You are within range of my divination." His smile was cold as he darted forward, Chakra flooding his fingertips as he ended the match.

The Hyuga struck Sasuke in the chest and grinned when he looked up from it and saw the Uchiha's Sharingan vanish from his eyes. Coal black met his own right before the pommel of the Uchiha's sword was driven into his skull. The pain of the blow as he stumbled back snapped him out of the Genjutsu the Genin had placed him under.

"Now-" Sasuke allowed his Chakra to surge as the Hyuga was rendered harmless for a moment, ripping away the barriers caused by Neji's initial strikes against him. "-let me show you why none can stand against the might of Praetor's Legion." His hands flew through the necessary hand seals. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

The circle around the two very swiftly expanded when the shields of a century shoved the watchers away. They turned inward with a shout once the task was complete and Sasuke reclaimed his shield and stood before the dazed Hyuga who's eyes tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

"Sasuke." Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of the Uchiha, one hand reaching out and two of his fingers poking the Uchiha's helmeted forehead. "Keep an ace up your sleeve next time." He turned to Naruto next after his admonishment of Sasuke. "Get rid of them."

"Hmph." Naruto did not bother speaking as he raised a hand into the air. Instantly, the summoned clones vanished in a cloud of smoke that spread throughout the room. "I would never be so foolish Silver Fang. Neither would the Legate of my glorious Orange Legion."

"Whatever you say, Naruto." Kakashi patted him on the head as he walked off. "You three probably have it all from here." The Jonin vanished in a puff of smoke.

'That's exactly like Kakashi.' Asuma observed everything that had happened from the doorway with a small smile as his team walked into the building. 'Looks like he's pretty confident in what his team can do after all.' The Jonin had also seen the Uchiha summon a small portion of the blonde's force. 'Not hard to understand why when at least two of those kids can summon an entire army if things get tough.'

"Alright, I'm sure you three can take it from here, right?" Asuma crushed the burned down cigarette under his foot. He received a trio of nods from his Genin team and he offered the three a smile. "I know you'll ace these exams so go easy on the competition, alright?"

"No promises." Ino flashed him a smile before she grabbed hold of both Shikamaru and Choji by the arm and dragged them forward. "Look out world, here comes the Ino-Shika-Cho Trio!"

"Those kids are sometimes too crazy." Asuma shook his head with a smile before he vanished in a similar vein to Kakashi. The Jonin had a place to be after all.

"Remember, don't try to show off. That paints a target on your back." Kurenai stopped at the edge of the yard they would be stepping into. "Keep track of each other, don't fall for tricks, and make sure to use those tricks I taught you if things get out of hand."

"Don't worry about us Kurenai-sensei, we're ready for this thing." Kiba's eyes shined with determination. "We're going to sweep it."

"I hope so." She couldn't help but smile. "Don't bring anything but your best, no matter what." She held out her hand and the three Genin placed theirs over her own. "Remember, no matter what, I'll be proud of what you three accomplish."

"We're going all the way Kurenai-sensei."

"We will accomplish this task. Why? It is because we have been given a great teacher."

"W-We won't fail. Not a single one of us!"

"That's my team." They broke away and Kurenai vanished in a swirl of leaves.

"Remember! Let your flames of youth be bright through the darkness of challenge! Illuminate the way for others and you will find they shall do the same! The individual does not pass the exams but the group does!" Gai offered his Genin team a blinding smile that two of the three returned. The third was still somewhat irritated at his defeat.

"I shall be a bright illumination like no other, Gai-sensei!"

"I know you shall Lee! But do not be afraid of following the light of others when the time comes!"

'What the hell is going on?' Even after a full year on Team Gai, Tenten still found herself unable to comprehend Gai at times. She did learn to smile through such confusion and think it over later. Her interests were also focused elsewhere regardless. 'Whatever Gai-sensei meant, I can't wait to see what else Naruto can do with those weapons.'

"I shall look forward to hearing of your successes!" Gai vanished at that through an application of his extreme speed.

"Fate has already decided our successes and failures." Neji whispered the words more to himself than his team. His pale eyes narrowed as they spotted an unwelcome face. 'Fate will decide if you live pass these exams as well Hinata.'

"Hey! Shikamaru! Choji!" The voice made the two boys stop being dragged forward by Ino. They turned and not even the lazy Nara could stop himself from grinning as they saw the Inuzuka running over to them. "You guys are in this thing too?"

"You bet." Choji nodded along to Shikamaru's words and Ino turned around and her eyes lit up at the sight they saw.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino was a blur as she raced across the room and to the armored Uchiha. The entirety of Team 7 stood separate from the other teams from Konoha and it was something the Nara noticed.

'Naruto's probably the cause of that.' Shikamaru shared a glance with Kiba and Choji, the three silently agreeing to head over even if something else reached Team 7 before they did.

"Sakura-chan!" Lee was suddenly in front of Sakura and it was to Naruto's obvious displeasure. "I am g-WOAH!" The Genin dodged the sword that was aimed to separate his head from his shoulders. Naruto held the blade out where it had come to a stop, not bothering returning it to its sheath.

"Do not come before Sakura-chan." Naruto's blue eyes glared into eyes alight with challenge just as the rest of Team Gai rushed over.

"Lee, what do you think you're doing?" Tenten took hold of the green clad boy as Naruto let his sword fall back into its place at his side. His blue eyes did not leave Lee. The light of hate shined within them before his Legate came over to his shoulder.

"Praetor, he can be dealt with later." Sasuke's words only received a brief nod and Naruto turned away, his cape billowing out behind him, and he and Sasuke stepped away. Sakura, after a moment of merely looking at the two, sighed and followed after them.

Once again Team 7 stood apart from the others. Naruto cast his blue eyes around the room before he whispered an order to Sasuke. The Uchiha instantly nodded and formed the same hand seals as he had against Neji in their brief battle.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" The Uchiha fell to a knee as he drove a hand into the ground. Instantly, smoke filled the room once more and several dozen figures similar to Naruto in appearance had joined the Genin gathered in the room. Without speaking a single word, they wordlessly formed a wall with their tall shields stacked on top of each other. The click of the locking mechanism was deafening to the small group, in comparison to the other occupants of the room, of Konoha Genin.

"Well…that could have probably gone better." Shikamaru sighed as he and the others reached Team Gai. "Sorry about how Naruto's been acting. He's not really been the same since he came back in that weird armor."

"There is no need to apologize." Lee's eyes drifted away from the wall of shields and he smiled at the younger Genin as he offered each a thumb up. "He is merely another challenge to overcome to gain the affections of Sakura-chan!"

"You should be more worried about Sasuke-kun." Ino looked toward the wall of shields and sighed. "He looks amazing in that uniform."

"Let's not talk about Team 7 for now." Shino spoke up as he walked over. "Hello by the way."

"You sound almost happy Shino, what's got you so excited?" Shikamaru looked to the Aburame member and received the closest most would ever get to a smile.

"You're right that I'm excited Shikamaru. Why? It is because I find the opportunity to prove myself in the Chunin Exams exciting."

"W-We're all excited to take part in the Chunin Exams." Hinata touched the tips of her index fingers together before her eyes drifted towards the division in the room. "Kurenai-sensei trained the three of us and we don't want to disappoint her."

"We all know we can't do that once we sweep through these exams." Kiba threw an arm over both of his teammates, Hinata almost turning red as Shino remained indifferent. "You guys will need a miracle to beat Team 8 in this thing because we're going all the way to the end. By the time these exams end, all three of us will be Chunin."

"Dismissed!"

"HOO!"

The voice of the Uchiha and the answering cry from the clones around Team 7 drew the attention of the majority of the Genin in the room. The smoke that drifted as the clones and shields around the three Genin vanished was also enough to catch the eye of most. Without acknowledging those watching, Naruto took the lead between his two teammates and they walked through the room and out the doors.

"HA! The Dead Last is chickening out!"

"You're doing the right thing failure!"

"Just like I thought, he can't handle the Exams."

"You're never going to become a Chunin, loser!"

"You should've never graduated!"

Comments like those and more came from the mouths of the Genin of Konoha but none of them reached the Uzumaki as the door sealed shut behind him.

"Something's not right." Shikamaru's eyes narrowed before he turned to Hinata. "Hinata, can you use your Byakugan to see where he's going?"

"I-I can try." Hinata offered the Nara a nod. She rose a hand up in the unique activation seal for the Dojutsu and the veins around her eyes slowly bulged. Her eyes closed as she focused and a grimace crossed her face before her Byakugan was gone quicker than it had appeared. "There's a Genjutsu obstructing something from my view. Whatever it is, it's on the second floor and there's a staircase to it behind the building. N-Naruto-kun is taking his team to whatever it is."

"Well that clears a couple things up." Shikamaru turned away from Hinata and to Neji. His Byakugan was silently activated it seemed. "I'm guessing you figured out the same thing, Neji?"

"Yes." His answer was a single word but it was all Shikmaru needed before he motioned for the three teams to come closer.

"Then I think I cracked whatever this is." He glanced up at a clock on the wall and nodded to himself before continuing. "The Chunin Exams officially start in twenty minutes and I've got a plan to make sure we get pass the entrance exam."

"What's your plan?" Kiba's grin was reflected on Shikamaru's face then.

Five minutes later, a fight broke out between two of the members of Team Kurenai and Team Gai. It took the remainder of both teams and Team Asuma to drag the two battling Genin apart. Kiba still lunged at Neji, screaming obscenities while the Hyuga did the same. The waiting Genin cleared the way for the pack of nine to move out through the doors and a glance at the clock revealed fifteen minutes until the Exams began. The two Genin continued shouting at each other even after the doors had been closed.

"This way." Shikamaru directed the group, Neji and Kiba quickly stopping their false fight and in a few minutes the Nara opened the door at the top of the metal staircase.

"Hmm, it seems the Nara did catch on, Legate." Naruto leaned against the wall of the much smaller room. Sasuke nodded at his side as his Sharingan looked over the three teams. The room itself was sparsely populated by Genin and a Chunin stood at the door at the opposite end of the room.

"Congratulations Team Asuma, Team Kurenai, and Team Gai of Konoha. You are eligible to exempt the First Stage of the Chunin Exams and move onto the Second Stage. Remain here until I am instructed to open the door. Leaving this room before then will result in your dismissal from the Chunin Exams." The Chunin spoke no more after his brief announcement.

"I am surprised you managed to figure out such trickery." Naruto looked to the nine with something beyond arrogance in his blue eyes. He chuckled, throwing his head back, and truly began to laugh at something he found to be hilarious. "I severely underestimated your intelligence it seems!" He suddenly ceased laughing. "It shall not happen again."

"I don't know why you're making such a big deal of it." Shikamaru rested his hands behind his head and looked towards the Uzumaki with boredom the dominate feature of his face. "There are two Hyuga Clan members with us so of course we were going to show up eventually."

"Indeed." Naruto suddenly turned to Sasuke, a smirk crossing his face. "Your skills are suddenly in question Legate." His tone was almost joking. Almost. "Perhaps I shall have your foe from not too long ago replace you as my Legate? The Byakugan seems to be superior to the Sharingan."

"I assure you here and now Praetor, the Hyuga will never rest on the same level as the Uchiha even when only I am left of my Clan." Sasuke's eyes found Neji's own and he smirked at the unspoken challenge in those pale orbs. "None of their Byakugan possesses even the slightest of potential to compare to the power of my Sharingan."

"We shall see of course." Naruto looked to both of the Hyuga before blue eyes were fully focused on those of the blue haired girl. Kiba noticed and growled as he moved up to her side while a dim buzzing sounded through the room. Naruto grinned at such a thing. "The option shows itself more preferable every second Legate. One of them even comes with her own personal dogs. However ill trained they may be."

"That's it you bastard! You're going down now!" Kiba's teeth became fangs as Akamaru dropped from his hoodie to the ground, growling, as he shot across the room on all fours.

"Reconsider." Sasuke spoke one word from where he stood as eyes locked with those of the Inuzuka and his Sharingan spun. The Genjutsu was performed flawlessly through the Dojutsu he possessed. Kiba at first only stumbled before fully hitting the ground, hard. Akamaru immediately leapt onto the back of his head, a soft whine coming from the ninken before he bit down on Kiba's hand.

Pain snapped Kiba out of the Genjutsu but he didn't attack again.

"You as always surprise me Legate." While Naruto spoke, his blue eyes remained on the slowly turning red Hinata.

'You've got to be kidding me.' Shikamaru couldn't believe the sight even if he knew exactly what was happening. Naruto's grin suddenly shifting to something more charming rather than arrogant made him actually want to do something about it.

"Stop looking at her." Surprisingly, it was Neji who stepped in front of Hinata. His Byakugan was activated and nearly instantly Sasuke was before the Uzumaki, the tomoe of his Sharingan still as one hand fell to the blade at his side. "No matter what you call yourself or what title you shout all the time, you are not worthy to look at the heiress of the Hyuga Clan." His arms may have been folded over his chest but the Hyuga seemed ready to fight once more. The Uchiha probably saw the Chakra gathering there for his Gentle Fist if the way he partially drew the sword was any indication of what was about to happen.

"Naruto, Sasuke." Sakura laid her hand on Naruto's shoulder and instantly the tension left the room. "Don't fight them please, for me?"

"Such a request is easy to fulfill, Sakura-chan." Naruto offered the pink haired Genin a half bow and he turned to his Legate. "We have had enough of these trivial games, Legate. We have things to discuss that lay far beyond the present." Naruto's words garnered the deactivation of Sasuke's Sharingan as he turned away from the other Genin.

"I shall do as you wish of me Praetor." He saluted the Uzumaki with his fist placed over his armored heart.

"Of course you shall." Naruto clapped Sasuke on the shoulder and the two walked away. Sakura sent an apologetic glance to the Genin that she wanted to approach before walking off after the two. The sound her sandals made echoed in the silent room.

"This all just got too troublesome." Shikamaru looked up towards the ceiling, avoiding the looks sent towards him by the more curious Genin.

He knew he was going to hate everything he was about to do today.

* * *

AN: 2 of 4.


	14. The Second Stage Is Already Over?

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full Chapter Title: The Second Stage Is Already Over? The Preliminary Rounds Begin!

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"It is a great thing to see so many promising young Shinobi have advanced this far in the Chunin Exams but, regrettably, this number is far too high to advance to the Third Stage." Hiruzen stood before the Genin that had made their way through the Forest of Death. "To lower the numbers, and the matches that will comprise the final stage, preliminaries will be held in this arena."

'This is unfortunate.' Naruto's grin never wavered as he took in the Hokage's words. He disliked the information being dropped on him so suddenly but he was nothing if not adaptable to changes such as these. He and his Legate would not fail, the Orange Legion he had created would not be disgraced. They shall only rise above such a petty and simple challenge and find further glory at the end of the road they traveled on. Their opponents would only know the hollowness of a crushing defeat.

He would accept nothing less from both his Legate and himself.

"Sakura-chan." Naruto drew the pink haired Genin's attention to him as he held out his hand. "To prevent you from wasting your time with trash, I can give you the seal to summon a fragment of my Legion to your side any time you wish. They will certainly prove helpful in dealing with your opponent in the preliminaries."

"I appreciate that Naruto but you don't have to." Sakura gently pushed the offered hand away. "I've been training so that I can take on anything these exams throw at me."

"I insist you rethink that." Naruto returned his hand to its prior place at his side and he glanced towards the screen displaying the fights. Neither his nor his Legate's opponents mattered as they would easily be vanquished but he did somewhat worry for Sakura-chan. "I see that you're going up against Ino…I doubt you will have trouble when it comes to defeating one so reliant on others but it is always best to be certain."

"Teamwork is vital Naruto, you shouldn't insult someone for having it when those three are very effective together." Sakura looked at the screen as well and could only raise a pink eyebrow at one of the matchups that she would definitely be paying attention to.

'Kiba's going up against Shino? I wonder how those two are going to fight each other.'

"Their teamwork fails against the discipline of my magnificent Legion. None shall surpass my power." Naruto turned to Sasuke as the Uchiha took notice of the board and his opponent. "Legate!"

"Praetor." Immediately the Uchiha snapped his eyes over to the Uzumaki and saluted him with a fist over his armored heart. "What do you command of me?"

"I expect an easy victory over someone such as her." Naruto spoke no more as he turned and left the arena.

"Sasuke Uchiha and Kin Tsuchi remain here! The rest of you can wait for your matches above!" Hayate stepped to the center of the arena and briefly coughed into his hands as the armored Konoha Genin and Oto Genin walked up to either side of him. "This match is…"

His words were lost to Naruto as he ignored the sickly looking man.

'Let me see your true skills now Legate. I do not wish to be disappointed in a choice that I was so sure of that day.' Naruto laid a hand on the hilt of his sword as his blue eyes stayed locked on the battle below him. Sakura was at his side and she looked on almost as attentively.

'Please don't die…just get hurt really bad.'

"You should give up now you know." Kin's hands were filled with three senbon each once the Tokubetsu Jonin had begun the match and removed himself from the field. He could be seen standing on the large hands and arms off to the side of the arena. The Genin from Otogakure sneered at the Uchiha who hadn't moved once the match had begun. "I know all your tricks so do-"

"Be quiet." The Sharingan warped his coal black eyes to red and black. "I'm considering sparing you but if you don't learn to be quiet I may just decide against it."

"You're too arrogant for your own good, Uchiha." Kin threw three senbon forward and the Uchiha dodged them without issue, moving his body to the side before he raised his hands and the movements of them were clear.

They were a staple of any fight with a member of the Uchiha Clan, be it during the Warring States Period or less than a decade ago, all members made use of the technique.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" He breathed out a massive fireball that Kin dodged by leaping out of the way. He continued weaving hand signs as she was airborne and he dashed to the side, using the sheer mass of the fireball to stay hidden from her sight in addition to the flames obscuring his hands from sight.

The moment Kin landed from when she had leaped into the air, she narrowly ducked under a barrage of shuriken the Uchiha had thrown at her. She responded with another trio of senbon that he batted out of the way by drawing his sword. The ringing of bells briefly came to his ears but he ignored them in favor of bringing the hand holding the wire strings up and moving through a number of hand signs.

'Snake. Dra-What the hell is going on?' His red and black eyes widened in shock when the image of one Oto Genin multiplied into a dozen. 'Genjutsu?' He released the wire strings and stumbled back as the ringing once again came but this time it brought pain. He closed his eyes as the sounds seemed to vibrate his bones and turn them to powder. 'What the hell? When did she manage to do this?'

"Ha, you were all talk and no bite." Kin drew more senbon to fill her hands and threw them forward, Sasuke unable to even know they were coming. They struck his hand and, unwillingly, his sword fell to the ground with a clatter. He stumbled when he attempted a step towards the Kunoichi and instead ended up nearly falling when he heard the ringing in rapid succession around him. He could hardly keep his head straight with the sudden feeling of vertigo washing over him as the Kunoichi refilled her hand. "So much for the Uchiha being legendary and powerful Shinobi! You can't even handle my Genjutsu!"

'I need to finish this.' The red and black eyes of the Uchiha, even if unfocused, made Kin want to end the fight quickly. Another trio of senbon filled her free hand and she threw all six forward, the Uchiha seemingly noticing it.

'Which are real?' He only saw a swarm of senbon fly towards him, a near solid wall of needles that he had no idea how to avoid as the constant ringing only doubled the number. 'Can't figure it out like this.'

The Uchiha rushed through hand signs he had memorized with his Sharingan instead of trying to dodge.

"Doton: Doryuheki!" The stone beneath him surged upward as a wall that concealed him from the Kunoichi's sight. The Uchiha was somewhat grateful that he had fought Kakashi as he did on the day of the Bell Test. It was the reason he hadn't lost the fight then and there.

The disgrace to the Legion his defeat would bring would insure that Naruto changed his mind when it came to his decision in Nami no Kuni.

" _It will go unnamed for today."_

Sasuke knew how quickly such a thing could change.

The technique he had used took a healthy chunk of his Chakra to perform in the end, regardless of how well he had copied the hand signs for it. He was almost panting with each breath he took and he estimated he had lost roughly a fourth of his Chakra by making use of it. The near nausea he was feeling from the Genjutsu hadn't helped him with his Chakra management in the slightest. Normally he could regulate his use much better, especially when his Sharingan was active.

'Now to deal with the bells she's using.' The Uchiha's Sharingan, as it roamed around the arena, easily discovered the bells Kin had been feeding her Chakra to and he drew a number of shuriken out to deal with them before making his next move.

"What's the matter, can't take me on?" Kin didn't waste her senbon on the stone the Uchiha remained hidden behind. She ran Chakra down the strings attached to her fingers instead of approaching the Uchiha and was startled when no ringing answered the Chakra flow. It didn't take her long to notice the wire strings had been cut by shuriken from the Uchiha. The wall decided to crumble then and the Uchiha was nowhere to be found once it did so.

"Where are you?" Kin was cautious as her eyes looked for the Uchiha before a sneer crossed her face. She had a plan, the senbon in her hands had bells attached to them and could be triggered by Chakra Flow either in her hand or out it. All she needed to do was lure the Uchiha out to be sure she caught him. She had just the way too. "Too scared to face me? I can't believe people were actually supposed to think you were strong. You can't fight me now even if I'm going easy on you. You're just some weak brat! You're so weak that you're psycho of a brother didn't even bother to kill you."

Sasuke paused.

The Genin was underneath the Otogakure Shinobi and was about to use another move he had copied from Kakashi and end the match when her words had reached him. Memories he had thought he had buried to fuel his hate for the man he would kill came to the forefront of his mind. He knew he could end the battle now. He could come up beneath her and trap her in the ground and force her to submit. It was his plan to end the match before she had done it. She had brought up the man he had promised to kill. She had made him remember the blood soaked streets. She made him remember the massacre wrought by one man. She made him remember the torment of the last meeting he had with a fellow Uchiha.

She made him remember Itachi Uchiha's last words to him.

" _You're not even worth killing. Foolish little brother, if you wish to kill me, foster your hatred and despise me. Surviving, in such an unsightly manner as this, by all means flee. Cling to your wretched life."_

"You're calling me weak, huh?" The Uchiha laughed and it was audible to everyone. It came from below Kin and she leaped away, landing a fair distance away with her senbon ready to throw. The ground crumbled away as the Uchiha rose from beneath it. "If I'm weak like you say, what does that make you when you're on the ground begging for mercy?"

'Idiot.' Kin threw her senbon forward, Chakra already running down the strings. 'He let himself get drawn out. All I need to do is hit the bells with Chakra when they're close enough and he's done for. This was almost too easy. What does Lord Orochimaru want from a guy like him?'

"Your bells are your one trick, aren't they?" The Uchiha's eyes focused on the Chakra racing down the strings before he threw out another handful of shuriken. Once again, the wire strings were cut but the Uchiha didn't wait for the Kunoichi to realize such a thing. He was already moving forward at speeds she couldn't follow.

He was in front of her before she could react and he grabbed hold of her scarf, drawing her forward. She didn't act quickly enough and the Uchiha locked eyes with her.

"Let me show you a real Genjutsu now." The world changed. He wasn't trying to distract her or confuse her senses. He wanted to terrorize her. The light, however harsh it was, vanished for a moment for complete darkness to take its place before light returned.

It was blood red.

He was torn apart in a shower of blood before her eyes and Kin rapidly backpedaled. The ground the crimson ichor touched burned away and it was spreading, it ate away at the ground like acid. Only the void was left once it was done and Kin ran from it or at least tried to. She screamed when she saw something had grabbed her, holding her in place. She tried to struggle but the grip grew crushing and she collapsed to the ground. She fell just as the floor around her began to crumble.

She was left in the center of an island that was already eroding. Things reached over the side then, skeletal hands dragging up monstrosities that she knew were coming for her. They crawled over the side no matter how much she screamed, she couldn't free herself from the crushing vice no matter how hard she struggled.

They were dragging her across the floor, covering her, ripping at her flesh. The blood, the acid, it bit at her skin with each time they touched.

The skeletons that had crawled out of the darkness were tearing her apart, demonic grins on their horned skulls while clawed fingers ripped her flesh away. She tried to struggle but her body refused to cooperate, refused to obey her command. She was trapped and could only scream when the hands reached for her face at last.

They didn't tear at it through, they didn't claw at it, they did nothing. They merely forced her to look at the red eyes hanging high above her. They forced her to see the rain of blood begin. Crimson ran like rivers down to where she was forced to watch and consumed her, washed her away and into the void.

Her back hit the stone once the Uchiha released his hold of her scarf, Kin's eyes wide with terror as the Uchiha stared down at her with the Sharingan that had effortlessly trapped her in the monstrous illusion. She was paralyzed at the mere sight of the eyes and the Uchiha smirked at her.

"That was a real Genjutsu." He took a single step towards her and she found herself crawling back on her hands. He took another step and she tried to scramble up to her feet when she discovered they had been bound together with wire strings. "I'm not very good at it, even with a Sharingan." He pulled the wire strings wrapped around his hand taut by raising it. "I much more prefer Ninjutsu."

He slowly moved through the hand signs he would need, the same ones he had rushed through near the start of the match.

Snake. Dragon. Rabbit. Tiger. He raised the bundle of strings up to his mouth as Kin glanced around her at the shuriken and searched for her senbon with her free hands. The attempt was fruitless as he ninja pouch was tossed aside, its content strewn across the arena floor. It didn't take a genius to understand exactly what was about to happen.

"What the hell are you doing! That guy said no killing!" Kin struggled to pull away but the Uchiha was stronger than he looked, his arm didn't move no matter how much she struggled. She only succeeded in letting the strings bit into her legs. Blood began to run down the wire and the sight of it terrified her. "Stop! I give up! You win! I give up!"

"Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu!" A massive flame roared down the wire strings as Kin screamed.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!"

Steam rose as the water struck the flames.

"That was pretty impressive Sasuke." Kakashi stood with Kin thrown over his shoulder as the steam brought on from the two attacks meeting dispersed throughout the room. "I'm sure you were just using that last attack as a scare tactic since lethal force was expressly forbidden, right?"

"I thought Jonin couldn't get involved, Kakashi. Why get in my way when I was about to finish the match?" Hayate's sword had severed the strings binding Kin and the Tokubetsu Jonin sighed from where he stood behind the Uchiha.

"The match was over once she started shouting about giving up." The proctor for the preliminaries turned to the watching audience. "Sasuke Uchiha wins his preliminary match."

Naruto offered a one man round of applause for his Legate then, his smile wide at his display, and the ovation was something the Legate accepted with a salute to the Uzumaki. He left as Kakashi resisted the urge to rub away the growing migraine the team was causing him.

'I'm going to need a drink after this.' The masked Jonin sat the Otogakure Genin down in front of her team and vanished over to his three students, two in name only, without a word.

"Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka are to come down to the arena." Hayate once more stood in the center of the room after a brief set of hand signs to return it to normal. "The same rules I spoke before apply to this match and any match. Killing your opponent is not allowed. If you attempt to do so, you will be stopped." The Shinobi sounded tired as he spoke something he thought he didn't need to. "Don't make me have to repeat that again."

"Well, I guess I'm up then." Sakura turned to leave the balcony.

"Sakura-chan." Naruto took hold of her arm before she could step away from him. Sasuke stood on her side but his eyes were elsewhere. His Sharingan roamed over the balcony they all waited on and he spotted his opponent being attended to by Medical-nin. "Before you leave to fight, I must know for certain that you understand something very important."

Blue eyes that usually looked at her with nothing but adoration held nothing in them.

"You are not as delicate as I once thought, you are quite capable, far beyond what I once thought. You stand above those below you with not only your beauty but your skills as well but Yamanaka is not to be treated lightly. She holds the advantage of a powerful Clan over your own. She will use Hiden techniques you will have no counters to. She will attempt to destroy you with skills taught to her by Shinobi the rank of Silver Fang but it makes her weak. Do not fail to impress me with your showing." As he spoke, his grip on her arm tightened ever so slightly. "The idea of seeing you defeated by such a girl as Ino Yamanaka is something I hardly wish to imagine. The reality of it…" He released her. "I would not like the actions I would need to take then."

"Don't worry about me." Sakura offered the blonde a smile that brought an identical one from him as well. "I'll be fine down there."

Neither spoke on the other's smile.

Sasuke's eyes followed Sakura as she headed down to the arena and he nodded to Naruto. The Uzumaki grinned as he leaned forward on the railing sat before him. Now all he had to do was wait and see if it was truly necessary in the end.

"You are quite devious, Praetor." Sasuke's comment brought a brief chuckle from the Uzumaki as Sakura's pink head appeared below the two as she walked across the floor to where the platinum blonde Ino waited for her, impatiently tapping her foot. "I don't know if Sakura will like the surprise you gave her."

"Sakura-chan's safety is more important than whatever she may feel from what I do to insure it." Naruto seemed to hand wave away the words of his Legate. "I will not see such a delicate flower perish because of the harshness of what surrounds it."

"Of course, Praetor." Sasuke did not speak anymore on the topic. Both turned their focus towards the fight below them it seemed.

'This has to stop soon.' Kakashi leaned back against a wall behind the two armored Genin as he looked down at his, in truth only, student with more pride in his eye than he thought he would ever have. 'Don't let them get to you Sakura. Show them all how much you've grown since you've come back.'

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AN: 3 of 4.


	15. Former Best Friends Collide!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full Chapter Title: Former Best Friends Collide! Who Will Come Out On Top?

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"Ino."

"Sakura."

The two Kunoichi stood across from each other as the proctor quickly vanished from sight and back to the other side of the arena where he sat down.

'I am not going to be between _that_.' Hayate settled his back against the wall and merely observed the two Genin. 'This isn't going to be pretty.' He could feel the tension between the two Genin, the animosity that could only be born from a friendship that had been lost. 'These two hate each other.'

"So, how does it feel?" Ino put a hand on her hip, throwing her long blonde hair back with her free hand. Sakura looked at her for a moment before she turned red.

"T-That doesn't matter right now, Ino!" She was flustered and was stammering as she drew out a kunai from her ninja pouch. "We're supposed to be fighting! Not talking about stuff like that so fight me!"

"I'll fight you when I want to! Now tell me about what it's like being on a team with Sasuke-kun!" The Yamanaka's eyes blazed with fury as a kunai was drawn from behind her back as well. "If it comes to it, I can just beat it out of you too Forehead! Do the right thing and I won't embarrass you too much."

"Don't think so high of yourself Ino-Pig!" Sakura dashed forward with speed that made Ino's blue eyes go wide before the Yamanaka swiftly avoided the rapid swipes from Sakura's kunai before it was suddenly spinning in the air. She was confused for only a moment before she noticed the airborne Sakura forming a hand sign and she swiftly leaped back.

The explosive tag exploded just as she did so and she shielded her face from shrapnel.

"What a dirty trick, Forehead!" Ino landed on her feet and added a kunai to her other hand as she crouched on the ground. "It wasn't that good of one either now that I think about it. You probably learned it from that idiot on your team!"

"So what did you teach Shikamaru and Choji then?" Sakura asked her question as she threw a handful of Shuriken forward and dashed after them, weaving hand signs for a technique any student at the Academy, barring one Naruto Uzumaki, could perform easily.

"You've got too big of a mouth on you now, Forehead!" Ino watched as one Sakura turned into three in a jumbled mess, the three constantly crossing each other's path as she dashed to the side and threw a trio of kunai forward. "I'm going to like shutting you up!"

'Why take a chance when I can be certain?' Her kunai struck each of the three simultaneously and the Kunoichi grinned as she came to a stop and prepared to end the battle here and now. 'I've got you right where I want you Sakura!'

Sakura knocked aside the kunai sent at her with one of her own as her Bunshin failed to keep up the illusion any longer. She rushed through another set of hand signs but she heard hissing at her feet.

"Say goodbye!" Ino formed the needed hand sign and the explosive tags she planted when she landed from Sakura's own use of the ninja tool exploded. She was consumed by the blast and the platinum blonde smirked as her hands formed a unique seal out in front of her chest.

'This is it.' Ino could already see how the battle would end. Sakura would emerge from the smoke cloud, trying to close the distance between the two of them as quick as possible, it would be worthless thanks to the wire strings laying taut between two kunai, she would use the Yamanaka's Mind Body Switch Technique to take control of Sakura's body once she was tangled in her trap. Once she had successfully completed the Jutsu, it would be easy to make Sakura give the match up. 'You never stood a chance against me Forehead and you should have known it.'

"This is interesting, don't you think Kakashi?"

"Hmm?" The Jonin turned to the smoker next to him. The two had seemed to gravitate towards one another as their two female students did battle. "What do you mean, Asuma?"

"I mean, don't you think this matchup is interesting?" Asuma looked down at the two Genin, Ino ready to end the match. "It's a bit cruel putting an heiress like Ino up against a girl like Haruno."

"Well, if I didn't know you any better Asuma, I'd say you were insulting my student." Kakashi turned a lazy eye towards the bearded Jonin. "I'm hearing you wrong, right?"

"You can hear whatever you want." Asuma blew out a cloud of smoke that hung in front of him. "You can believe that your kid can beat Ino but you'll be disappointed." Kakashi's eye became more focused than it should when directed at a fellow Konoha Shinobi. "She was smart at the Academy, top of the class thanks to her test scores. She's hopeless against someone like Ino. She wasn't the smartest but she's going to wipe the floor with the kid." The bearded Jonin let his cigarette hang from his lip. "Some kids aren't meant to be Shinobi, its better she figure that out now than later."

Kakashi said nothing.

"I'm just trying to make sure she doesn't go out there and die, Kakashi. Don't hate me for trying to keep a kid not ready for this safe."

"You're wrong." He said no more.

'Now!' Ino saw movement coming from the smoke.

A barrage of kunai and shuriken flew towards her before she could get the perfect shot but it was no problem to dodge for a Kunoichi like her. A pink topped blur darted out of the smoke next, Ino effortlessly drawing twin kunai into her hands and deflecting Sakura's own. The Genin grinned for whatever reason as they fell away from each other, launching back to the ground.

Ino realized why when she caught sight of the wire strings tied to the shuriken she had dodged. Sakura pulled them back before she landed but it wasn't hard to deflect them with her two kunai.

"I bet you learned that trick from Sasuke-kun, Forehead." Ino moved the kunai she held in each of her hands, spinning them by the ring at the end of them on her fingers. "What else did he teach you?" She laughed as she sprinted forward. "Not like it'll help you beat me so don't bother copying him anymore!"

"I don't need to copy him." Sakura blocked her slashes with the ninja tool with her own. She attacked herself when Ino showed her surprise but didn't manage to get through her guard. She did manage to gain distance between the two a moment later and tossed one of her kunai towards Ino.

It was something the Yamanaka easily dodged.

"Legate." Naruto's single word earned a nod from the second in command of his forces. He wordlessly vanished in an impressive use of the Body Flicker Technique for a Genin. A centurion promptly appeared kneeling next to Naruto with ten of the men of his century with him.

"Praetor." The centurion of the Orange Legion rose and the two near identical figures observed the match below them. The absence of the Legate was not commented on.

'What is he up to?' Kakashi's eyes did not leave the match below him but his thoughts turned towards the Uchiha. 'What is Naruto planning now?'

"Give up already!" Ino kicked Sakura after the next clash proved less even. She was sent rolling across the ground but swiftly rose to her feet and reached into her ninja pouch. Ino threw a barrage of shuriken forward and forced her to reconsider whatever her plan was. "You can't beat me Forehead! You're the same now as you were back in the Academy!"

"No I'm not." Sakura leaped back a she landed, doing a trio of kunai Ino had thrown at her. "If anyone is, it's you."

"I was better than you back then and I still am." Ino's smoke bombs, tied to the kunai, detonated and Sakura coughed in the cloud of choking smoke. Her hands formed a familiar sign, the signal that use of her Clan's infamous Mind Body Switch Technique was imminent. "You didn't have what it took to beat me then and you don't have anything close to it today. Now give up or-"

A sudden surge of Chakra made her almost fall.

'That's it!' Kakashi's eye did not widen in surprise at his discovery as he turned his single visible eye to the blonde in front of him. The Uzumaki chuckled as the centurion was swiftly replaced by the Legate of his Orange Legion. 'He-'

"Bow to the might of the Orange Legion!" Sakura was behind a wall of steel, the arena floor filled with a century of the Orange Legion. "Prepare to fall Yamanaka!"

"Hayate, disqualify her!" Asuma called out to the proctor who didn't bother with responding. He merely turned to the Hokage.

'I'm going to regret this but…' The opportunity to gather more data was rare. He could sense the mark burning on Sakura's arm, Naruto's Chakra ripping free of it. He had made tough decisions before, decisions that cost hundreds their lives, but he had never had to deal with the look of his son when he made them. He didn't have to see how he accused him, another failing that was simply one of many now.

He didn't have to see his son look at him like he was now, already knowing what his father would say.

"I never outlawed summoning, Asuma." Hiruzen sealed Ino's fate in that moment.

"Stand back, Sakura-chan. Allow us to handle it." The centurion that had been summoned with his force drew his sword up, clashing the flat of the blade against his shield. Sakura's attempted protest was drowned out by the noise that grew hundred fold when the clones around her joined the beat.

"HA! I'm not afraid of a bunch of Shadow Clones from that idiot up there!" Ino threw shuriken but the wall of steel repelled them, the projectile weapons clattering to the ground once they met the shields. "You must be desperate to try and-"

"I grow tired of her voice. Take her down."

"HOO!"

'Dammit.' Sakura ignored the clones that ran past her. 'I didn't want this.' She ignored the centurion that stood next to her, his armor easy to recognize as the leader of her Blossom Guard. The same Blossom Guard she thought was destroyed when she took on Zabuza Momoichi in Nami no Kuni. She was clearly wrong. They had been butchered by the hired Shinobi until Naruto had arrived. 'Why do they have to be here? Why are they treating me like I'm some delicate flower?' Her eyes turned to pools of blue watching from above. 'It's because of him.' She had too much control of herself to glare at him.

It wouldn't work anyway. If, after everything she had done to him at the Academy, he still had his crush on her than she couldn't break his obsession over her with a mean look. She would need to do something far more drastic to get him to leave her alone.

'How am I supposed to do that if he put this stupid mark on my arm?' It was easy for her to feel the seal on her arm now. It all but blazed with Naruto's Chakra, consumed her entirely in a near shroud that she hated. His Chakra wasn't vile or hate filled, it just proved how obsessed he was with her. He had, for whatever reason, developed a seal to put on people that forcibly summoned his clones. 'How am I even going to get this thing off of me?'

Pilum thrust forward with blinding speed, all but caging Ino between the ten wooden shafts. She somehow managed to escape but already blood ran from a number of cuts and, from the grin on the faces of the clones, they were playing with her. None of them had seriously engaged her beyond ten of them. The rest merely encircled her, acting as a steel wall she couldn't get pass. They banged on their shields with their swords, stomped their feet on the ground, brought the shaft of pilum against the towering shield on their arms, and shouted and hollered at her but they did not attack.

"HOO!" Ino failed to dodge the next pilum, crying out as the blade at the end ran across her arm. She grabbed at it with her lips in a tight line before lashing out with a kick. A shield met her foot and she was sent stumbling back when the clone behind it shoved the shield forward.

"HOO!" She recovered before she could fall, planting her foot down and trying to burst through the small circle the ten made around her with a surprising display of speed.

"HOO!" The pilum of five of the nearest clones were thrust forward, Ino coming to a hasty stop to avoid being impaled on the sharp points. She turned and ran to the side, failing to dodge the next pilum thrust in its entirety and suffering a cut on her side.

"HOO!" Three shot forward from around her, hoping to cage her in a rough triangle that they would tighten. They failed when she hopped onto the shafts of two of the pilum, balancing there for a moment until a fourth struck her in the shin with the shaft of the polearm. She nearly lost her balance as she felt the impact she knew was unavoidable. She wanted to scream but instead her foot lashed out, her sandaled foot almost succeeding in striking the clone underneath his chin if he hadn't moved back in time.

"HOO!" The three that had aimed to trap her in the triangle let out a shout as they threw their weapons upwards, launching the balancing Ino surprisingly high into the air. She tried to control her descent, tried to avoid the bed of spikes that awaited her.

She couldn't.

The clones angled their weapons away from her, allowing her to strike the center of a new circle.

They were still playing with her from the grin on their faces.

'Why can't I show him how strong I am?' Sakura caught sight of the silver hair of her teacher, the one man she wanted to impress in this fight. Now she couldn't. Now he had to be sure that it was a waste of time to train her, to even bother with teaching her. 'Why does Naruto have to get in my way?'

He had to know then. It was the only option. He had to know that she hated him, hated how he had become obsessed with her, obsessed with treating her like some prize, and decided to show her why she didn't stand a chance. She couldn't escape his sight, his reach, with the mark on her arm.

"She doesn't seem appreciative of the gift, Praetor." Sasuke's Sharingan did not leave Sakura, focused on the mark that continued to pump out Chakra, Naruto's Chakra, on her arm. "What does this mean for the future plans you developed?"

"It changes nothing." Naruto chuckled as he clenched and unclenched his hand, the same hand he had grabbed hold of Sakura with. "I am the Caesar of the Uzumaki Empire. She will learn to appreciate my interest in her soon enough. She doesn't really have a choice. She can't get rid of that mark."

The mark on his palm, hidden by his armor, burned bright. At the same time, a grin of conquest was clear on Naruto's face.

"She belongs to me like all of this world soon will."

* * *

AN: So, a few things. First off, 4 of 4 for this update.

Next up, review replies:

tastybigsexy: I've already answered your questions. Hopefully satisfactorily.

MBAssassin360: I can only hope I continue to keep you entertained and interested with more chapters.

Another thing now and its about Orange Legion unsurprisingly. Just something at random really but how many of you reading actually like this story? Honestly, it has to have become boring at this point, right? Is it slow? Does nothing happen? Are the major points clear or not? Does it even make sense to begin with? Does it just suck? Is it just another one of the countless "Naruto gets INSERT POWER HERE instead of Shadow Clones and now is super strong and everything" stories. Is it original in any way? Is it even good?

This isn't like a discontinue notice by the way. There's still like 20+ chapters written for this thing and I wouldn't let all that work go to waste but...Just forget about all this actually.

Review or PM.

Peace.


	16. Hail Caesar

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

AN: Two things, most of the other preliminary fights are part of this update and there's a note at the bottom of this chapter. Read it if you want. It's just a small rant.

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"You damn brat." Asuma restrained himself from lunging at the blonde not too far from him, his hands gripping the railing in front of him. They couldn't handle his grip, becoming thinner and thinner from the pressure on them. "You damn brat." He growled the words again as he looked down at the arena, at what was happening. "I'm going to kill you." It was the only thing he could say, a verbal promise, to make sure he didn't snap at what he saw below him. "I'm going to make you pay for this. For everything you've done in your miserable life, you're going to pay when I get my hands on you."

Ino was beaten into the ground against numbers she couldn't hope to face. The clones of the blonde he was going to kill laughed before most of them turned to the original. Amusement shined in blue eyes he could so swiftly grow to hate.

"Praetor, she is pathetic!" Ino tried to rise but the blunt end of a pilum was driven into the back of her neck by a clone and she was forced to the ground. Her attempt to resist, to force her way back up, drew a cry of pain when another pilum was brought down on her head, forcing her to the ground. "She is nothing without those fools she calls her team!"

"I wonder if I've given you my response now, Sakura-chan." Naruto looked away from the clones and towards the still Sakura. "You once told me not too long ago that teamwork is vital yet all I see before me, the result of teamwork, is a weak fool. She is nothing but beaten and broken by my men. I told you once that nothing, especially not that vile thing known as teamwork, could stand against my glorious Legion yet you failed to see the truth then! Gaze upon the truth you refused now Sakura-chan and see the might of my glorious Legion!"

"HOO!" Their blades met their shields as they shouted. "HOO!" They began a near deafening rhythm but did not carry over the voice of their Praetor.

"Look at that pathetic girl and see why teamwork is so worthless when compared to the might of my magnificent, my unbeatable, my glorious Legion!" He laughed as his hands took hold of the railings in front of him, the sound echoing in the near silent arena. "All of you take in the sight of what teamwork creates! A weakness like no other! Nothing can compare to the folly that is a dependence on something so pathetic! Only the weaklings that pollute these lands have the audacity to band together in a vain attempt to challenge the strong of this world! All you must do to see my words are true is to look upon that beaten form below you! Look upon it and see why teamwork is so worthless against my mighty Orange Legion! All of you look and tremble as you see the future of all those who seek to use such a pathetic thing as teamwork against my glorious Legion! Look as you see the results of teamwork against the incalculable might of my grand Empire!" His voice took on a near rabid quality, his eyes becoming unreadable blue pits as he fell to his frenzy. "Look and be disgusted! See weakness and know it dwells in each of your foolish hearts if you believe in teamwork!"

"Graze upon the Praetor of a Legion and the Caesar of an Empire and know you will be squashed like ants before my might!" He threw his head back and laughed without end.

"HAIL CASESAR!" The men that faced him shouted their agreement, clashing their swords with their shields faster and harsher, producing a louder and louder beat. "HAIL CAESAR!" Applause born from steel instead of flesh filled the silence just as much as Naruto's laugher. "HAIL CAESAR!"

"Girl, forfeit." The centurion crouched down next to her, took hold of her face with one hand and looked into blue eyes lighter than his own. "Do not make me have to do worse than I must." The centurion drew his blade with a near flourish, placing the tip before blue eyes. "It is a shame to take the sight of one such as yourself but I will if I must."

"…" A silent glare was all his threat earned and, for some indecipherable reason, he smiled.

"So be it." He returned the blade to his side and, with his now free hand, beckoned two of the men with him over. "Take hold of her arms. You," He brought over another and pointed to her platinum blonde topped scalp. ", keep hold of her head. It does not matter if she closes her eyes to me, my blade is sharp. She will only darken her sight herself much sooner."

She struggled but it was pointless. Naruto's clones were strong. She tried to pull her arms free and only made the clone holding each chuckle. She tried to turn her head, thrash from side to side, and she felt as if she was held by a vice as a reward for her efforts while fingers dug into her hair, the side of her face. She struggled and could do nothing but make the centurion before her laugh.

"Hold still girl." He flipped the blade in his hand, his free palm laying itself on her forehead. "If I miss, I'll simply take a pound of flesh from wherever my blade may strike." He shrugged. "Eventually, you will forfeit from the pain, I have no doubt of that Yamanaka."

She screamed as she struggled, trying to rip herself free, attack the clones holding her down, she tried everything but nothing worked. The centurion only laughed more as he drew his arm back.

"ENOUGH!" Sakura took hold of his arm before he could plunge the blade into Ino's eye. "Let her go!"

"We cannot." The centurion looked at her with the same eyes Naruto would. He did not rip himself free of her grip. "She must forfeit."

"She isn't going to." Sakura looked into the defiant eyes of Ino, the girl still struggling. "Proctor!" Her voice carried over the sound of metal striking metal. "I forfeit the match!"

"Sakura-chan!" The centurion ripped his arm free, his sword pointed towards the prone Ino. "I can end this now!"

"No." She pushed past him. "Let her up!"

An indecipherable look crossed the face of each clone, a hundred identical faces bearing the same unknown expression.

"You will regret this, Sakura-chan." The centurion, and his men, vanished in a cloud of smoke with those words.

She didn't answer. Green eyes met blue and she turned away.

'I'm so sorry Ino.'

"Ino Yamanaka wins her preliminary match!" Hayate's voice followed her exit.

"Tch." Naruto voiced his irritation, one hand coming up to sweep back his blonde hair. "I go through such work for her and she doesn't even appreciate it, hardly seems to notice it at all even." He chuckled as he lowered his hand and turned to the Legate of his Legion at his side. "Go find her Legate. I will arrive later once my match is over with."

"I will find her, Praetor…my mistake." A grin came over his face as he bowed his head with a clenched fist over his heart. "I will find her, Caesar." Naruto's grin told the Legate all he needed to know of such a title. He vanished with the Body Flicker.

'How shameful of you Sakura-chan, giving up when your opponent is so close to defeat. To instead take such a disgrace as defeat upon yourself, upon my Legion, is disappointing. I thought you would understand but it seems you do not possess brilliance in all things.' Naruto shook his head as he returned his focus to the arena even if a different grin took hold of his lips. 'I will need to show you why mercy is such a foolish thing sooner rather than later.'

The Praetor of the Orange Legion and Caesar of the Uzumaki Empire was not left alone for long, within twenty seconds of his Legate departing, one of his Praetorians stood on either side of him.

'Ino…' Asuma looked at his student as she was helped up the steps by both of her teammates. 'Dammit.' He cursed more at himself than anyone else at the state she was in. She had won the match but she certainly didn't look, or probably feel, like a winner.

"Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame are to come down to the arena." Hayate looked towards where Kurenai stood, Kiba all but growling as he looked towards where Naruto stood, flanked on either side by his clones, and Shino looking on impassively before he turned and walked away from the railing.

"We have a match Kiba. Focus on it." Shino spoke all he needed to say as he walked past the Inuzuka. Kiba closed his eyes, taking a moment to breath, before following after him.

"Ah, the mutt and the bug man fighting one another? I can find some amusement in a dog being brought to heel I suppose." Naruto's voice carried down to the arena and Hayate sighed before looking up to the Hokage who nodded.

"Change of plans. Naruto Uzumaki and Zaku Abumi are to come to the arena." Hayate looked up to the blue eyes of the Genin and didn't like what he saw in them. "Let's get this over with."

No one protested the sudden switch.

Naruto didn't bother with the steps, climbing over the railing and landing on a crouch on the arena floor. His opponent, an Otogakure Genin, followed his example and brought his palms together as something close to glee crossed his face.

"I can't wait to shut you up brat." Zaku rose from his crouch and Naruto chuckled as he walked up to Hayate, discarding his cape and pressing it into the hands of a suddenly appearing clone that retreated up the steps he should have taken.

"You will regret your birth boy." Naruto stopped next to the Tokubetsu Jonin and his opponent did the same. Hayate began listing off the rules but, once again, Naruto ignored him. His eyes never left the sneering face of his opponent. "I will enjoy making you learn such regret with my own hands."

"I don't know why I bother with these rules." Hayate spoke mainly to himself before coughing into his hand. "Begin!"

Zaku threw his arm up into the air, leveling the palm with Naruto's chest.

"Dec-"

"Pathetic." Naruto moved faster than most of the watching Genin could see, his hand suddenly taking hold of one of his opponent's arm around the forearm. "Your technique, your strategy, is too clear." Naruto's grip tightened as he began to force the arm he held out to the side. "I know about the tubes in your arm."

"So? That doesn't change a damn thing!" Zaku threw his other arm forward, a blast of air throwing Naruto away from him but the Praetor of the Orange Legion and Caesar of the Uzumai Empire grinned as he landed in acrouch not too far away. He seemed more excited at the fight than anything. "I'm going to crush you no matter how big you talk or what you know."

Both of Zaku's palms faced Naruto before the Genin was simply gone from sight. Zaku turned too late to stop the blow from the Uzumaki. He stumbled back but didn't fall from the simple blow to the chest from Naruto's palm and it was clearly what the blonde wanted. He didn't press his attack, he allowed Zaku to regain his footing and come at him with a shout, throwing one hand forward and releasing another wave of air. He grinned as Naruto landed but it was far from perfect. He nearly stumbled, came close to falling to the ground if he didn't throw his arms out for balance. He was hunched over regardless, his eyes clenched shut for a moment before they opened.

He glared at Zaku after a moment, shaking his head, and rising to his full height. His hand fell to his side but only took hold of the hilt of his blade before he released it. He instead moved a single foot back, placing his side to face Zaku as he rose his free hand up.

 _Bring it_. His fingers curled inward and Zaku answered.

'50/50 mix of air and sound.' Zaku drew both his hands up, gathering Chakra to fire a much stronger blast. He threw himself forward in a dash, vanishing from sight, and appeared behind Naruto a moment later. The Uzumaki actually leaned forward, completely dodging the point blank blast that would have ripped him apart. The blonde's mouth turned up in a smile as he rose back to his full height, his back still facing Zaku.

He was rendered harmless from his shock.

"You dare to believe the Caesar of an Empire would take a blow to the back?" Naruto's voice was a growl, his voice all the intimidation he needed to keep the Genin frozen from action. "You dare to believe I would allow such a cowardly tactic to scar this flesh?"

He spun and backhanded Zaku away, the Genin sent flying from Naruto's surprising strength. His foot was caught before he could fly far, Naruto's blow sending him from a vertical stance to a horizontal trip through the air. He ripped him back, throwing him to the ground behind him as he turned with the Genin. His fist came down next and Zaku narrowly rolled out of the way of a blow that pulverized stone into dust.

'What the hell is this guy?' The Otogakure Genin wasn't attacked further, Naruto taking time to brush the dust residue from his shoulder instead. The sight made him enraged.

"Decapitating Airwave!" Zaku threw one hand forward, unleashing a visible gale of air with a high pitched screaming noise following it.

"Tch." Naruto folded his arms over his chest before he simply jumped over the blow, flipping in the air and landing behind his opponent.

The two were back to back for only a moment.

Zaku spun, a kunai drawn with blinding speed and swung towards the Uzumaki's neck. A raised, and armored, forearm was all that was needed to stop the blow. Zaku's shock was nearly audible when the fractured head of his kunai fell to the ground, Naruto's armor bearing no blemish.

Once again, the Uzumaki only grinned.

"Fool." Naruto shifted, his hand taking hold of Zaku's wrist as twin abyss of blue locked with fearful black.

'What the hell is this kid?' Zaku struggled to pull his hand away and found it to be folly. He could do nothing to rip himself free of the Genin's grip.

"Let go of me you damn brat!" Zaku threw his other hand forward, planting it on Naruto's armored chest. "I'll put a hole where your heart should be if you don't let go right now." A brief silence came to the arena floor as the Oto Genin glanced at where his hand rested. He blinked. Zaku suddenly grinned as he realized the situation at last, his panic fleeing. "Better yet, how about you just give up?"

"Give up?" Naruto threw his head back and laughed just like he had done a few minutes earlier. It was loud and boisterous, something that made Zaku seethe with anger. "You fool! You dare to believe that a Caesar would do such a thing? Disgrace himself before the threats of a slobbering dog like you!" He laughed again before he lowered his head, meeting Zaku's eyes once more. Nothing shined in them, they held no glimmer of falsehood or the truth as determined by mortals. What they held instead was a type of universal certainty in what would soon happen, no doubt in them. "Go on then mutt, unleash your attack."

"Suit yourself, dumbass." Zaku sent a surge of Chakra down his arm, air roaring down the tubes in his arms.

Naruto dodged the blow.

"I warned you." He had turned to the side faster than Zaku could see and a palm thrust threw the Genin back. He was sent skidding across the floor once more like before and hit the wall of the arena across from the Uzumaki and where he once stood. He groaned as he rose back to his feet, one hand coming up to cradle his no doubt bruise he would have on his chest.

"Come now dog." Naruto crossed his arms over his chest once more, a sneer befitting a conqueror on his face. "I have not yet struck you harshly. Consider all I have done gentle with what I have in store if you continue to disobey your Caesar."

"Bastard." Zaku threw one hand forward, another Decapitating Airwave lurching forth and ripping through the air.

Naruto didn't bother to dodge it. His hair was thrown back by the wind he did not avoid, his armor vibrated across his form as sound traveled through it, and he himself seemed to shimmer in a haze brought on by the shifting air around him. His feet remained planted on the ground even if the tiles around him cracked, chipped away, outright blown apart at some places. He remained exactly where he was even as he no doubt experienced disorientation. The only sign of such a thing was the brief closing of his unfocused eyes. He opened them once more just as quickly.

His hair was the only thing knocked out of place. He had ran a hand through it to bring it to order during his announcement of his title of Caesar and now it hung around his head in a spiked mess like before.

'What the hell?' Zaku glanced down at his hands as Naruto's grin remained in place, the immobile statue of a Genin merely observing his opponent. 'This kid is ridiculous! There's no way he should still be standing after a direct shot! No way!' Once again, he glanced to his hands and clenched his fingers. 'I should have wiped him out with that attack, cracked his head open on the back wall but he's still standing.' He glanced towards the blonde that he had been matched up against and couldn't keep the fear off his face. 'What is he?'

"What the hell is going on?" Asuma wanted to punch the wall behind him but already he was being watched. He knew it. He couldn't have an outburst like that and expect to see Choji and Shikamaru fight. "Why is that kid still standing after an attack like that?"

'How is he doing that?' Shikamaru closed his eyes as he sighed. 'Any person hit by that, Shinobi or civilian, is going to be feeling it. Choji couldn't take it when we got caught by these Sound guys so how come Naruto is still standing? Anybody else and they would be disoriented, probably spewing their lunch all over the ground, but he's standing there still as statue. How?'

"You think you're great, don't you kid?" Zaku growled the words as he brought his hands up, bringing them together with his palms pointing towards the Uzumaki. "I don't care what you want to call yourself but nobody is going to be able to survive my next attack, hm! Don't even bother trying to dodge it! I'm going to turn you to dust wit-"

"All I hear are the mad snarls of a mutt." Naruto's voice carried over Zaku's in mid-proclamation. "Silence yourself before I make you howl when I strike you next. You clearly will not learn from gentle blows that draw your pathetic yelps."

'This guy is about to be atomized with the next one.' The Sound Genin focused his Chakra once more, most of it going to this attack. 'I'm done playing games with this arrogant brat."

"EXTREME DECAPITATING AIRWAVE!" Zaku roared the words as a visible blast erupted from his hands, the arena floor torn apart as the air blast traveled forward towards the Uzumaki. A grin was on the Otogakure Genin's face as he saw his victory. The dazed Uzumaki could do nothing and so was consumed by his attack without issue.

"Stupid arrogant brat." Zaku grinned as he lowered his hands, nothing left of his opponent. "Should have learned when to keep his mouth shut."

Zaku heard the sound of a pair of sandals striking the ground simultaneously behind him but failed to turn around in time. An armored forearm clubbed him in the back of the head as Naruto grinned at him as the Genin stumbled and attempted to turn, only ending up on his back on the ground. His attempt to rise was met with the blade of a pilum to his throat, the Praetor of the Orange Legion making sure to cut into the side of Zaku's neck with the razor sharp blade.

"Rise if you don't value your life fool." Naruto pressed the blade inward, Zaku afraid to flinch from the look on his face. His arms laid flat on the ground, palms down. Any attempt to move, any attempt to channel Chakra to his hands for another attack, and Naruto would draw the blade back. He knew it and so his hands were very, very still. His eyes held planning behind them.

"Don't even think about it." Naruto shifted his grip, drawing more blood from Zaku with a hiss. "Do you think I'm not aware of your plan?" The Uzumaki chuckled before he was a blur.

Zaku screamed when Naruto stomped down on his hand, breaking it in too many places to count. His attempt to throw the other hand over it in his agony was stopped when the pilum embedded itself into the ground, going through said hand to do so. Another pilum appeared in Naruto's hands seconds later and he once again pressed it to the Genin's neck.

It was the opposite side this time.

He didn't bother speaking, only slowly beginning to press inward and drawing a greater and greater stream of blood from the neck as he did so. The boy looked into the dispassionate eyes of Naruto, blue eyes holding truly nothing in them, and had no choice.

"I forfeit." It was a whisper.

"Louder mutt." He drew the pilum across his neck to show his displeasure.

"I FORFEIT!" The twin pilums vanished from sight. Naruto turned without acknowledging his defeated foe any longer. In twin bursts of smoke, a Praetorian stood on either side of him as he ascended the steps to reach the viewing area once more.

"Naruto Uzumaki wins his preliminary match." Hayate looked down at the Sound Genin that Naruto had left. Blood pooled beneath his hand and wrapped around his neck as if it was a collar. He turned to the Hokage and saw the old man's eyes follow the leaving form of Naruto.

'You're lucky the old man likes you kid, very lucky.' Hayate turned his eyes back to the arena as the Genin was taken away.

"Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame are to come to the arena!"

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AN: I...I do not like this chapter for whatever reason. The fight isn't the issue. I feel the announcement of Caesar can be done better but my mind refuses to see past what I've already written down. I don't feel like I can make that bit any longer without making it drag on but I want to do something to it. I have no idea what. I ignored the feeling and kept writing but returned to it several times. I thought of changing it, reconsidered, and moved on again. It kind of kept happening for a while until I forced myself to ignore any misgivings I had about it. I needed to keep going and decided to just focus on something else. Probably not the best strategy but its the one I came up with.

Anyway, this rant is over with. Enjoy the next six chapters.


	17. Teammates Collide

Disclaimer: Chapter 1 still.

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"Looks like I don't need to bother being here any longer." Kakashi covered his already covered face with the palm of his hand as he yawned. "I should probably head off and make sure my team is doing alright after their fights." He didn't move from where he stood. "Yep, should probably get on that team stuff _right_ now."

"Your enthusiasm is infectious Kakashi." Gai's response made the Jonin chuckle, actually laugh as he turned to the Green Beast of Konoha.

"I'm trying to outclass you now I guess."

"HA! Believe me my Eternal Rival, on such a day I shall circle the village hundred times on each of my thumbs!" Gai rose both thumbs as if to act as the formal signing of such a vow and Kakashi nodded.

'This is getting out of hand.' It was the only thought going through Kakashi's mind at the moment. He glanced to the Hokage and saw the storm brewing behind the old eyes. 'This is really getting out of hand.' He wanted to curse himself for every passing Team 7. 'This is all going to be my fault again.'

'I'm a terrible sensei, Obito.'

Kakashi's visible eye crinkled around the edges. Gai took notice.

"See you later Gai." He vanished in a cloud of smoke. Gai knew he didn't go far.

"Alright, you two know the rules." Hayate looked at the two Genin that stood on either side of him, facing the other. "I'll be observing the match. Try not to follow any of the other fights you've seen. They're all bad examples." He coughed into his hand several times. "Alright, begin anytime you want."

Kiba immediately threw himself towards Shino with a growl. Shino deftly avoided him, his hands remaining in his pockets as he took step after step backwards in retreat. A keen eye would take note of the writhing black splotches he seemed to leave behind.

"Nice one, Shino." Kiba grinned at him, his fangs on display, as he deftly leaped over the tracks left by Shino, his kikaichu remaining on the ground as he landed on the ground. "Too bad I've seen that trick one too many times now."

"You've fallen for it about the same number of times I've made use of it." The Aburame shrugged his shoulders by the way the collar of his jacket moved up and down. "I figured it couldn't hurt to try it out." The heir of the Aburame Clan suddenly flung his arms forward, a swarm emerging from under each sleeve. "It looks like I'll have to improvise now. Why? Because you've gotten better since the last time we fought Kiba."

"You know it." Kiba seemed to know Shino's favored patterns with his kikaichu, deftly avoiding the flurry of movement from the twin swarms controlled by the bug user. He even dodged the amassed bugs behind him darting forward as a black wall. He rolled to the side and with a bark Akamaru left his jacket.

The ninken growled at the Aburame who was his master's opponent and jumped onto Kiba's back.

"Beast Human Clone!" In a puff of smoke, Akamaru had transformed into a feral looking version of the Genin's back he stood on. The differences were swiftly eliminated when Kiba's nail elongated and his appearance became far more feral. Both let out a howl before darting forward.

"Fang Passing Fang!" Both spun and turned into ferocious spinning beasts heading straight towards Shino.

"K-Kurenai-sensei, is it alright for Shino and Kiba to f-fight like this?" Hinata looked towards her Jonin sensei with worry shining in her pale lavender eyes. The concern for her teammates made Kurenai want to smile. The way the girl cared for her friends was rare from a Hyuga, thought to be nonexistence by most of the village.

"They'll be fine Hinata." Kurenai looked down as the cloud of dust thrown up by Kiba's attack began to fade, showing Shino was only a big dinged up from the ferocious attack that was a staple of the Inuzuka Clan's fighting style. "Consider this a spar."

"Oh." Hinata looked out at the two and frowned. "Kiba doesn't win many spars."

"Yes. He doesn't." Kurenai, despite such a thing, could only smile as she watched her two students battle. Pride shined in her eyes as Kiba and the transformed Akamaru landed on opposite sides of Shino as a black circle took hold of the ground at Shino's feet.

"You got some bugs on me." Kiba brushed some of said bugs off his sleeves, taking hold of a few and crushing them.

"I did." Shino spoke the fact of the battle as his hands returned to his pockets. "No doubt that you'll pass out soon."

"Not likely." Kiba grinned as he reached into his hoodie pocket, drawing out two brown spheres.

"Ah, yes, Military Ration Pills. Those will be a problem." Shino sighed by the way the collar of his jacket lowered before rising back up. "Why? Because they'll replenish our energy almost as fast as my kikaichu can drain your Chakra."

"Dead on." Shino wasn't idle as Kiba popped one into his mouth and grimaced as he bit down before tossing the second one over his head and to Akamaru. A dozen of his faster kikaichu intercepted the pill and a swarm swiftly consumed it.

"It was a fortunate thing I had those bugs waiting." Shino was almost grinning as Kiba growled at his plan being thwarted. "Your Combination Techniques are top notch but Akamaru isn't going to last long without those pills and," The bugs encircling Shino bulged as their numbers seemed to grow. "my kikaichu are draining the both of you rather quickly."

'Crap.' Kiba didn't let his worry show, he exchanged a silent nod with Akamaru before both went on all fours and raced forward again. 'I don't have many pills on me after the Second Stage.' His team had made abundant use of his supply after three days of fighting, none of them expecting the preliminaries. 'Two left top.'

He threw a kunai with an explosive tag trailing behind it forward, blasting through the sudden wall of insects in front of him. Shino's eyes seemed to widen behind his glasses before the Aburame brought his hands up, dark specks spreading across his entire jacket. Any physical contact would let the bugs latch on.

"PASSING FANG!" Akamaru crashed down on Shino after avoiding the wall of bugs by jumping high into the air.

The Aburame was thrown to the ground by a barrage of vicious and ferocious strikes just as Kiba threw himself forward next.

"PASSING FANG!" He echoed his ninken partner with his own ferocious blows sending Shino out of the circle of bugs, something which hurried to follow after him even as the Aburame worked to swiftly regain his footing. His feet dug into the ground, Chakra helping him come to a swift stop as he threw his swarm forward in a rare offensive maneuver.

The swarm separated into five. Three went at him from the left, center, and right while two others went wide and aimed to wrap around and join together to strike him from behind. He had seen the attack used and been on the receiving end of it already. Kiba was about to dart to the side when a white and brown dog hit the floor where his copy once stood.

"Oh no." Hinata looked down at the match and couldn't help the concern in her voice. Her Byakugan took hold of her eyes and the normally impassive Hyuga eyes reflected her worry even then. "Akamaru's Chakra is being drained too much. Kiba's Human Beast Clone techniques are useless now."

"Trust me Hinata, Kiba has a plan." Kurenai patted her Genin on the back, her eyes focused on Kiba as he grabbed the near collapsing Akamaru from off the ground and threw himself out of the way of the attack. The swarm directed to the right managed to graze him and his jacket was being covered by the kikaichu.

'I liked this thing too!' Kiba made his decision, drawing a kunai in the arm not cradling Akamaru, and tearing his jacket apart with a few precise slashes. He hit the ground with a series of rolls, probably aimed to squash any bugs that had gotten on him, and threw his kunai behind him.

Shino deftly blocked it with his own ninja tool. The ripping of strands of fabric filled the air between the two as his kikaichu feasted on the jacket in the frenzy he had sent them into for such a swift attack.

"You'll owe me a new jacket once I win, Shino." Akamaru was released from his grasp and Kiba crouched next to the ninken, running a hand through his fur to an appreciative tail wagging from Akamaru. "And you'll owe Akamaru a few things too."

"I intend to replace your jacket once I win, Kiba." Shino returned his hands to his pockets. "You'll need to provide for Akamaru yourself afterward." Kiba grinned at the challenge in Shino's words.

"Let's see who's right then." He had managed to snatch one Military Ration Pill from his jacket before the kikaichu had forced him to get rid of it and bit off half of the vile tasting pill with a grimace. He offered the other half to Akamaru who grimaced as he quickly gobbled it up.

His fur turned crimson before the ninken growled, once again assuming Kiba's form in a cloud of smoke. Both feral looking boys nodded to each other before they darted forward on all fours once more.

'You're getting better Kiba.' Kurenai couldn't help but smile as her student unleashed his ferocious Taijutsu style on the surprisingly nimble Aburame, his blows dodged with each missed blow collecting more and more of his kikaichu. The insects hung in the air around Shino, a dark cloud that was growing smaller and smaller the more Kiba attacked and collected them. 'You still have a far way to go through.'

Shino took his hands out of his pockets, throwing out a number of shuriken he must have kept there to distract Kiba. Only one of the boys responded, no idea which, and batted the spinning ninja tools away with a growl with clawed hands. The other lunged towards him, a kick that would have sent him into the air dodged as he rolled to the side and a punch that he would like to not know the effects of ripped into the ground. Both Kibas snarled at him before throwing themselves forward.

"Passing Fang!" One came from directly in front of him and another lagged further behind. It wasn't the destructive Fang Passing Fang but a good use of simultaneous uses of Passing Fang. He could barely avoid one of them with certainty, two of them insured one attack landed.

He sent a swarm of kikaichu forward, mentally recognizing he was giving away half of his offense and defense capabilities with them intercepting the one closest to him but he found it a worthy sacrifice. He waited as one of the Passing Fangs came to a halt against the barrier his kikaichu formed and the cause of the attack hit the ground hard. He continued to wait, ready to jump whichever way he needed to, as the other Passing Fang spiraled through the air towards him.

"It's still hard to believe those two are so strong." Hinata's Byakugan slowly died, the veins around her eyes becoming less pronounced as her Dojutsu deactivated. "I-I'm glad they can fight like this."

"All three of you are surprisingly skilled for Genin." Kurenai looked out at her two students fighting, Shino avoiding the attack by leaping to the side but stumbling upon his landing, and to Hinata. The Hyuga was still worried for her teammates despite how much more they had gone through during training. "Unlike a lot of others, all three of you have responsibilities that require you to be stronger than most others your age. You, Kiba, and Shino are the heirs to some of Konoha's strongest clans after all: the Inuzuka, Aburame, and the Hyuga."

"The Hyuga's are the strongest clan in Konoha, Kurenai-sensei." Hinata corrected her without meaning to it seemed from how red her face became. "I-I mean to say t-that…I'm sorry for speaking like that to you Kurenai-sensei b-but I-I-I-"

Kurenai couldn't help but sigh at how swiftly Hinata could change. She spoke those words with the pride of a Hyuga one moment and turned into her normal timid self the next. It was almost concerning how fast she could go from confident and assertive to meek.

'This is it.' Kiba recovered from missing Shino with his attack but could hardly stand. 'I don't have much left with these bugs draining my Chakra like they are.' Akamaru growled next to him, the Human Beast Clone Technique still working but it was fading and fast. Kikaichu covered the transformed ninken and Shino no doubt knew who was who now.

"Let's take him down with one attack, Akamaru!" Kiba threw himself forward as the transformed Akamaru barked his agreement. Both were on all fours as Shino readied himself for the last encounter of their battle. He was never much of a physical brawler so he had to either defend or lose.

There was no in between now.

"Fang Passing Fang!" Kiba and Akamaru threw themselves forward into another violent spiral, Shino unable to avoid it this time. They were too close to him actually, far too close for him to even think about dodging. The best he could do was to summon his remaining kikaichu to him as quickly as he could and send them forward as they took shape, creating a wall of the insects that stripped the two of their Chakra faster. He still didn't avoid a vicious combo attack from the two, being driven back and into the already cracked wall. Kiba and the transformed Akamaru followed after him, hitting the wall next to him as Akamaru returned to normal.

Kiba could barely remain conscious as Shino's ravenous kikaichu consumed the last of his Chakra.

"I should let you know." Shino groaned as he looked down to Kiba, sliding down the wall to rest next to him. "I bred some insects specifically to eat your Ration Pills. Why? Because I knew it would be the best way to defeat you if we met in the exams."

"I'll get you back for this one day." Kiba slipped from consciousness with those words.

"Shino Aburame wins his preliminary match." Hayate's voice carried across the arena as Kurenai looked down at her two students, both were exhausted but she couldn't be prouder of them.

'Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all?' Her doubts had at last been moved aside after the display her Genin had put on. They weren't monsters but they were better than most Genin could hope to be. Kiba may not become a Chunin in these Exams but he was a shoe in for the rank sooner rather than later. 'I had nothing to worry about after all.'

"Neji Hyuga and Yoroi Akado are to come to the arena!"

* * *

AN: I think I'm leaving a comment about each of these fights. For Shino and Kiba, I went in with the idea Kiba was going to lose. Figured it would be similar to how Shino beat Kankuro in Naruto canon. His bugs would make fighting him hand to hand like punching a wall of knives.


	18. The Gentle Fist Fails?

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1 still.

AN: Full Chapter Title: The Gentle Fist Fails? Neji's On The Ropes!?

* * *

"A Hyuga? I'm lucky to get to fight one such as you." Yoroi stood across from the blank face Hyuga, his arms crossed over his chest. Pale eyes looked over his opponent and expressed nothing. "I have wanted to test my skills against someone like you for quite some time."

"Stop whatever act you're putting on." Neji shifted his stance, Chakra beginning to slowly gather at his fingertips in preparation of his use of the Hyuga's iconic Gentle Fist. "Don't act as if you have a chance of winning this battle." His Byakugan appeared without further words needed.

"Alright then." Yoroi's concealed face offered very little but his shift was clear.

He was ready to fight. It was suicide to many.

"I hope you didn't set to high expectations for you student coming into this exam, Megane-san." Gai looked to his fellow Jonin, the sandy brown haired man turning to him with a somewhat unreadable look in his eyes before they were warm. "Neji is a Genin like few others in this exam."

"We'll see about that." Megane turned his eyes back to the match without another word.

Gai spared him one last look, noting the sudden change that took hold of him rather quickly, before he turned his eyes to his student.

'I wonder how you'll overcome this challenge, Neji?' The Jonin knew of the rival Genin's ability. His student would have quite the challenge on his hands. 'Will you rely on your belief in fate or overcome it and become greater without such imagined limits on yourself? Will you at last see how fate is malleable, created by the strength one possesses, changed by the drive they hold in their heart? Will you believe in your own strength or will you believe that fate remains a roadblock in your path?'

"Show me your resolve, Neji." Gai spoke to himself, his words difficult for even his fellow Jonin to pick up. The eyes of Konoha's Green Beast would not be leaving the battle between the two Genin below him anytime soon.

"Begin." Hayate once again removed himself from the arena.

"Prepare to meet your fate." Neji threw himself forward, Yoroi merely standing where he was. A weak block was all he threw up, a poor hope of stopping the devastating Gentle Fist all Hyuga made use of.

'Pathetic.' His fingers struck the arm, an act of fate showing him the tenketsu to render the limb useless to his opponent.

Nothing happened.

Yoroi grinned beneath the cloth covering his mouth as Neji retreated, his Byakugan showing his shock as he tried to understand what had happened.

'He absorbed my Chakra?' The brief contact, the spike of Chakra he sent into his opponent's Chakra Pathway System, was rendered useless. He had struck the tenketsu with practiced precision and nothing had come of it besides a drop in his reserves. 'How can he do something like that?'

"You always preach about fate, right?" Yoroi brought his fist into his palm, his grin wide behind the cloth. "What do you think about fate matching you up against someone like me, Hyuga?" The Genin did not give the Hyuga a chance to think of a response before he darted forward.

On impulse, Neji once again made use of the Gentle Fist. Three swift and glancing blows that would have stopped the attack of any other foe were useless to stop the charge of the Konoha Genin. He batted away Neji's arms and his hand took hold of his face.

The Byakugan that was the pride of Konoha for so many years now was gone. His Chakra was ripped from him before the Genin could draw a kunai and force his foe away lest he disembowel him with the tool in his hands. He nearly fell regardless of the success of his tactic, stumbling back as he held the kunai in front of him. It was clear just how unbalanced the Hyuga was in this fight.

His Gentle Fist was a complete failure against the opponent in front of him.

"I've figured you out." Neji did not lower his weapon as he spoke. His face didn't carry arrogance, his eyes did not look down on his foe. "You can absorb Chakra through direct physical contact."

"I'm surprised you could figure that out so fast Hyuga." Yoroi chuckled, a number of shuriken drawn to fill his hand. "You must be feeling like fate is screwing you over right now, right? You only know the Hyuga Gentle Fist and that kind of attack is worthless against a guy like me."

He threw the shuriken forward, Neji's pale eyes narrowing as he deftly deflected them. Yoroi appeared behind him, dust sent into the air from his sandals striking the ground. He swiped at Neji with a kunai in his hand but the Hyuga deftly avoided the slash as well, the veins around his eyes far more pronounced but not for long. His Byakugan faltered a moment later as he threw his kunai forward and rushed through hand signs.

The Academy Clone Technique was used by the Hyuga as three identical Genin landed in front of Yoroi and each drew a new kunai. The Konoha Genin showed no concern with the three, he spun the kunai he had caught out of the air by the ring on his finger.

"Face it, you can't beat me." Yoroi dashed forward again, his hand extended to grab hold of one of the Nejis. "You're done for Hyuga!"

He had made the right choice, it was the real Neji that his fingers hardly brushed before he was jumping away and landed on the ground to the side of the Konoha Genin. The useless illusions that were his clones vanished from sight, a haze consuming them as they faded from existence.

"Trying to use techniques like that against me now?" Yoroi laughed from where he now stood. "You're one pathetic guy, you know that? The moment you lose your precious Gentle Fist, you resort to Academy level techniques! It'll be an embarrassment if a guy like me fell for simple tricks like that clone thing." Yoroi raced through hand signs. "Let me show you areal technique!"

"Suiton: Mizurappa!" The same technique Kakashi had used to stop Sasuke's immolation of Kin earlier was used by Yoroi, shooting a stream of pressurized water forward from his mouth. Neji dodged it by jumping to the side but Yoroi showed rather impressive Chakra levels for a Genin. He pursued Neji, the stream of water consistently after him no matter how fast the Hyuga ran.

'This isn't good.' Neji at last jumped onto the walls, standing horizontally on them and ready to continue avoiding the attack when it suddenly stopped. The arena floor was partially flooded by the large amount of water the Genin had unleashed with his attack and he easily stood on top of it. 'My Taijutsu is useless against him.'

His Byakugan reappeared in his eyes with a moment of concentration, the veins pulsing as he struggled to maintain it. He looked out at the changed arena and didn't do much else before it faltered and his eyes returned to normal.

He dropped onto the surface of the water and was once again joined by a duo of illusionary clones.

'Idiot.' Yoroi instantly picked out the real Neji. It was simple since the one on the left was the only one to produce ripples on the water's surface while the other two failed to do the same. 'He doesn't understand how to fight without his Byakugan.'

Yoroi began his attack again, intentional heading towards the one on the right. Neji, the real one, immediately shifted his stance to intercept him as the clone in the center did the same. He was about to launch himself forward and strike Yoroi unaware from the side when he finished his next set of hand signs.

"Suiton: Daibakuryu no Jutsu!" A whirlpool grew around him, tearing his footing out from under him and sending him stumbling and falling into the water with a splash. The water around him broke his concentration and the Bunshin no Jutsu was broken as Yoroi chuckled. The two were in a swiftly growing mass of water as Neji was powerless to overcome the growing strength of the whirlpool as more water gathered.

"This is too easy." Yoroi went through his next set of hand signs and the whirlpool began to tighten and take shape around Neji, waves consumed him and a sphere of water now had him floating in the center. "Suiton: Suiro no Jutsu!" He plunged his hand forward and took hold of Neji's hair.

The Chakra leaving the Hyuga and entering the Genin was visible to the observers as blue strands in the water. Neji pulled himself free from Yoroi's grip but he still floated in the sphere of water. It was only a matter of time until he would be defeated if he remained inside.

'Dammit.' Already Neji could feel his oxygen dwindling. He was a Shinobi and could hold his breath far longer than civilians could but he had his limits, high as they might be. He had minutes to think up a plan or else he would pass out and Yoroi would be victorious.

"It looks like the match is over, Gai." Megane turned to Gai with a grin, a flash from his glasses as he pushed them up the bridge of his nose. "It looks like your student lost the fight." Pride was in his voice and Gai merely shook his head.

"We will see who will be victorious." Gai spoke even as bubbles burst free of Neji's mouth as the water seemed to attack him, no doubt another of Yoroi's Water Release techniques making it do so. The Genin was seemingly highly versed in a number of techniques. "My student is not yet defeated."

'Don't give up Neji.' Gai's eyes did not leave his trapped student. 'It is not a question of if you can win, it is a question of if you can overcome your own limits. If you refuse to believe in the power of fate and destiny,I am sure you will prove triumphant!'

"NEJI!" Lee's voice carried down the arena, his bandaged wrapped hands taking hold of the railing as he leaned forward. "I WILL NOT SEE MY RIVAL DEFEATED SO EASILY! IF YOU DO NOT WIN THIS MATCH THAN WE CANNOT FACE EACH OTHER IN THE FINALS!"

'I can't believe this.' Despite his situation and the preciousness of air, bubbles escaped Neji's mouth as the normally stoic Hyuga laughed. 'Lee's trying to motivate me to success.'

'He can absorb Chakra.' His mind flashed back to the numerous times his opponent had made use of his ability. 'But it's not a Kekkei Genkai. It's nothing but a technique he's been taught. A technique I can find the flaw in and overcome.' He gathered his Chakra in preparation for his next act. 'I am a Hyuga and I will not lose to some common trash.'

The Byakugan slowly took hold of his eyes. He knew it would be the last time he would make use of the Dojutsu.

'Success in the Chunin Exams is my destiny.'

"Gentle Fist Art: Body Blow!" Chakra erupted from his tenketsu in a precise attack steered by the Byakugan. Yoroi leapt back as the released spikes of Chakra from the Hyuga would have torn into his tenketsu if he hadn't. He didn't want to risk any type of Gentle Fist attack managing to strike him if he could help it.

"What don't you get?" Yoroi landed not too far away, water covering the arena floor once more. "Your fancy Taijutsu is useless against me!"

"You fail to understand destiny then." Neji was soaking wet but standing tall, his eyes narrowed as he took in the sight of his opponent. "Fate has guided us both to this moment you will know why soon enough. I've figured out your technique and now you don't stand a chance."

"Then let's see what you've got!" Yoroi raced through hand signs once more before he slammed a hand into the ground. "Suiton: Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" From the water around him, two identical Yoroi Akados took shape from pillars of water that surged upward. They surrounded Neji in the rough shape of a triangle, each of the figures acting as one the points of the shape.

"This is a real clone technique." All three spoke as one as Neji's eyes took in each of them. "These aren't illusions but the real thing. If they hit you, it'll hurt. If you hit them, they'll take even more of your Chakra. Nothing you can do is going to save you now kid. Me and my clones are going to beat the hell out of you. I'll make you beg for the proctor to end this fight."

"Nothing you say matters at this point." Neji closed his eyes, wet strands of his hair falling over his eyes. "Nothing you can do will stop me from fulfilling my destiny in this fight. Your destiny to lose is the same as my destiny to triumph in this fight no matter what you may think." He opened them, the veins around his eyes pulsing. "Fate is inescapable."

"Bold words from the guy I've been beating this entire time." Yoroi spoke no more. All three darted forward and Neji slid into a more advanced stance for the Gentle Fist.

"Neji really is a genius." Hinata's comment drew confusion from the Jonin standing next to her, a raised eyebrow the only sign before her eyes focused on the boy fighting a losing battle below them.

"I wouldn't say that Hinata." Kurenai didn't catch the slow shake of Hinata's head.

'He deserves so much more than anyone knows.'

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!" Neji threw his hands out to the side, palms facing each of the identified water clones of Yoroi, and they were blown apart into two sprays of droplets. A rainbow seemed to shimmer as the water droplets split apart the light shining around them, letting the world between the two combatants be bathed in color before only one would stain the ground.

"What?" Yoroi landed on the water after aborting his attack but Neji pursued him. "How the hell did you do that?" His Gentle Fist remained useless but his Byakugan allowed him to target Yoroi perfectly with his kunai, a thin cut appearing on his arm, another thin cut appearing on his shoulder, his shirt suffering a tear from a narrowly dodged slash.

"The Gentle Fist is a versatile style." Neji's had the faint traces of a grin on his face as at last he found the opening he needed. He threw his weapon forward, Yoroi easily avoiding the weapon and it dug into the ground instead. "You should understand that if you ever attempt to fight a Hyuga, commoner."

The Hyuga's arrogant words seemed to be enough for Yoroi to cease his dodging. He had nothing to fear as the Hyuga gave up his only means of attack against him. His hand lunged forward to grab hold of the Hyuga but he was deftly dodged before Neji jumped back as he reached into the pouch behind him. He crouched down upon landing and his next action made nearly all those watching raise their eyebrows.

Well, all those except his teammates.

"Gai-sensei, did you t-" Rock Lee was interrupted in the midst of his question by a chuckle from Gai.

"I believe Neji is simply showing some of his genius to us all." Gai looked down as Neji took a kunai to the bandages wrapped around his leg and transferred them to his bare arm with surprising speed. The bandages around his other arm were loosened and cascaded down around his hand and pooled on the floor of the arena.

"You should have kept those bandages on Hyuga!" Yoroi didn't charge forward and instead brought his hands together with a resounding clap. "They were going to be the thing holding you together once I was finished with you! Now the medics are going to be quick to stop you from bleeding to death when I win!"

"You fool." Neji rose, the bandages taking on some of the water that still covered the arena floor. "You'll know your fate soon enough."

Yoroi answered such words with a growl of annoyance as the water around him began to take shape, his Chakra leaking from his feet into the water.

The water around him began to gather and build, a burgeoning wave lifting him up before lowering him as it built higher and higher. Neji made no move to stop it as he remained where he was, the water soaked bandages striking the floor once the water was gone. Yoroi let out a shout before he was thrown forward, carried forward by a wave of water towards the Hyuga. His hands remained clapped together but wouldn't be for long. The moment he was in range he would grab hold of the Hyuga and drain him dry of Chakra.

"This match is over with." Gai and Megane mirrored each other's words. The two Jonin knew the match was over the moment the wave of water had begun.

"Yoroi-"

"Neji-"

"-will win."

'This is it.' Neji threw himself forward without further delay, spinning the heavy water laden bandages in his hands while he was airborne. They formed large loops.

"You absorb Chakra but it's nothing but a normal technique." Neji landed on the wave of water as he dodged Yoroi's attempt to grab him. The release of what had to be the seal for the technique made the wave falter and Neji and Yoroi hit the ground in an explosion of water and smoke thanks to a smoke bomb from the Hyuga. "That means you need to focus to use it." The bandages were thrown forward in the resulting spray of water and thick black cloud around the two Genin, Yoroi unable to actually see them while Neji saw the humanoid mass of Chakra perfectly. "Without focus, without the eyes of the Hyuga, you don't stand a chance of keeping pace with me."

"But let's see how well your eyes match up to mine."

Yoroi's arms were bound to his side thanks to the loops of bandages being tightened against him. He tried to break free but found the bandages were surprisingly strong, one of the loops he found wrapped around him would have been difficult to free himself from but it seemed like a near dozen kept him in place.

He was trapped and knew it.

"You are within range of my divination." Neji's stance was odd, his arms were spread with one forward and one back as he leaned towards his side. A short gasp from the girl next to her made Kurenai turn to the sole other Hyuga present and narrow her eyes when they turned back to Neji.

" _Neji really is a genius."_ Unwanted, her student's words echoed in her head.

'Is this what you meant when you said that, Hinata?' Only observing the actions of the Genin in front of her would show her if she was right or wrong.

"Two palms." Neji's Chakra laden fingers struck at Yoroi's restrained body twice, neither proving effective.

"Four palms." Four rapid strikes brought the same results as Yoroi simply absorbed the Chakra from each blow, nullifying it.

"Eight palms!" Eight rapid strikes proved troublesome, Yoroi grimacing when one managed to break through and his tenketsu was sealed. Another strike followed in quick succession of the first and a third successfully connected blow followed the second.

"Sixteen palms!" Sixteen rapid strikes were aimed and landed within an instance by the Hyuga. Sixteen more of Yoroi's tenketsu were rapidly sealed and Neji continued his assault.

"Thirty-two palms!" Thirty-two strikes followed a strong step forward, Yoroi pushed back unwillingly with each precise blow to one of his swiftly shrinking number of open tenketsu. All Shinobi had three hundred and sixty-one but Neji had cut that number down by fifty-one. It was more than enough to bring most Shinobi to their knees.

"It's over." Hinata was wrong.

"SIXTY-FOUR PALMS!" A blue haze seemed to consume the air as Neji's hands turned into a blur, his strikes so swift none bar the Jonin observing could actually track his blows and only barely. Only Gai's eyes could follow each and every single blow, track its exact position, and gauge how much force Neji used before withdrawing. His question was hidden in his eyes to all but the most keen observers.

'Neji, why are you still going? Your opponent is already defeated.'

"You said you could absorb Chakra, right?" Neji spoke even as he delivered strike after strike to Yoroi, sending him further and further back with each vicious blow but the Hyuga kept step with him, his arms never seeming to cease in their relentless attack. "You told me the Gentle Fist was worthless against someone like you but, like all others, you were wrong!" Neji's strike seemed to increase in speed, Gai's eyes watching on as his pupil unleashed one precise Chakra releasing strike after one precise Chakra releasing strike. It was incredible to see the genius of Neji Hyuga on display. Each strike was debilitating in their own right but together they would completely destroy an opponent who found themselves unfortunate enough to face off against the Hyuga. "You fell to the might of the Hyuga like all others before you because no one alive can match the Byakugan! No one can change fate when my eyes have already seen it!"

"Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms!" The name of the legendary technique of the Hyuga, a technique that was to be taught only to the most skilled of the Main Family, was accompanied by a single strike, the one hundred and twenty-eighth in rapid succession, to Yoroi's chest. All in all, the Hyuga had sealed one hundred and fifteen of the Genin's tenketsu. Neji's fingers remained where they had last struck as the Hyuga prodigy's shoulders heaved up and down as he took in deep breaths of air. His Chakra was exhausted from his rapid assault but a ghost of a smirk played across his face when he realized something.

"I knew you couldn't keep up."

No Chakra was taken from him.

"Know your fate." Neji withdrew his hand and stepped back. Yoroi fell forward.

"Neji Hyuga wins his preliminary match!"

* * *

AN: Pointless fact: I named their sensei after glasses. Helmet, armor, sword, and glasses. Beyond that, Yoroi never stood a chance in my opinion. In canon, Sasuke beat him despite the handicap of the Cursed Seal he had just gotten from Orochimaru. I feel I made this unfair to Neji with however brief the match was a struggle.


	19. A Clash of Speed!

Disclaimer: Chapter 1 still.

AN: Full Chapter Title: A Clash of Speed! Which Is Faster: Sound or Determination?

* * *

"Good job, Neji." Gai offered his prodigal student a thumbs up with a proud smile on his face upon his return to the upper area of the arena. "Like I thought you would, you emerged victorious no matter the challenge set before you."

"It was my destiny to win." Neji did not say much more, leaning against the wall behind them and letting his Byakugan fade from his eyes. Gai's smile dimmed slightly as he turned back to the arena, Chunin making it usable for the next match after Yoroi had flooded it. Medics were currently carrying the unmoving Genin from the room. He knew the Genin's condition with a glance and did not envy the medic who would discover it for themselves.

'You still need to learn self-control it seems.' Gai shook his head at his student's still unchecked temper. He had hoped it would have been tempered given time but it seemed Neji's natural skills and talent had made it into a thing unchangeable with nothing short of his own intervention.

"Congratulations on your student's victory, Gai." Megane spoke those words tersely to him before vanishing from his sight. He would no doubt be leaving to meet with the medics about the condition of his student after witnessing one the Hyuga's greatest techniques being used against him. His condition was no doubt something of concern.

'Neji.' Hinata's Byakugan allowed her to see the state of her cousin much more thoroughly than any observer. He was tired, his Chakra was nearly depleted, and he was lucky he hadn't torn the muscles in his arms with his use of the Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms. 'What did you have to prove? You could have defeated Yoroi with the Sixty-Four Palms but you didn't stop there. You kept going and your last blow…' The gentle girl shook as she remembered simply seeing the last blow delivered by Neji. Her eyes had let her see far beyond what anyone else did and it was horrifying. 'Why did you want to hurt him so bad? A fellow Konoha Shinobi and you do that to him?'

The gentleness left her eyes, replaced by something no one would want to see in the eyes of HInata Hyuga.

'You're nothing but a monster.' Hate shined in her eyes but it just as swiftly turned to pity. Her eyes focused on the exhausted form of her cousin and she couldn't deny that she was unable to hate him like she should have. She couldn't even look down on him like all members of the Main Family did to those of the Branch Family. 'The Hyuga made you like that but you don't have to let it consume you.'

'You're a genius who can't reach the heights you should because of your birth. You surpassed those limits with the genius you were born with but you go too far. Anytime you talk about fate and destiny you become brutal like that. You hurt Lee when all he wants to do is be your friend, you hurt me whenever we had to spar against one another, and you even try to hurt your own sensei when he decides to spar against you. You tried to kill another Genin from the village because you felt slighted and you were happy about it.' Her Byakugan had let her see the minute expression he wore with his final strike. It was a smile that vanished as quickly as it had arrived, however slight it was. 'You didn't fully seal the last tenketsu you struck only because you ran out of Chakra using the first half of the Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms. If you had any more you would have sealed it entirely and his heart would have given out from the attack.'

Her Byakugan slowly faded from her eyes. She needed to conserve Chakra for her own match later.

'You have so much hate in you but one day I'll show you why you're way is so wrong Neji.'

"Lee, your match is next." Gai looked to the display that hung above the arena still, five rows darkened and five remaining. Rock Lee vs. Dosu Kinuta was the currently highlighted one. The last Otogakure Genin in the preliminaries after both of his teammates, Rin Tsuchi and Zaku Abumi, had fallen to the two male members of Team Kakashi. Both had been rather one-sided affairs. "I want to know your strategy."

"I expect him to employ similar techniques to his teammates so I am prepared to move faster than any sound he uses can reach me." Lee looked down at the arena, his future battleground, with a fire burning in his eyes. "If I am to fail, if I do not move fast enough, I will make it my mission to become faster than sound and, if my flames of youth prove themselves to burn hot enough, surpass the famed speed of my own sensei, the incredible Taijutsu master Maito Gai!"

"You truly do make me proud Lee!" Gai's eyes shared the passion of his student. "You are truly the finest pupil I could have asked to teach and impart all my wisdom to!"

"I am proud to live up to such high expectations of excellence Gai-sensei! If I am to ever fail them I shall not rest until I have completed five hundred laps around Konoha running!"

"No Lee! If I was to ever fail in teaching you, I shall complete a thousand laps around the village hoping on one foot! Such a fine pupil as yourself could never fail when your flames of youth burn so brightly!"

"Gai-sensei! This pupil of yours could not have asked for a better sensei!"

"It is a pupil like yourself that honors the master Lee!"

Tenten sighed as the two, student and teacher, acted just like each other in their exuberance. She glanced from where she stood to where Neji seemed to have fallen asleep standing up but couldn't blame him. He had faced a difficult opponent and managed to come out on top despite everything being against him with his Gentle Fist rendered useless until the end.

'You really are something else Neji.' Tenten couldn't keep the smile off her face as she looked to the Genin that would certainly make Chunin. His raw skill made the rank of Genin almost an insult. 'I'm not going to sit by and just watch you go far through. I'll take down that Suna kid no problem.' Her eyes looked to where her name rested. 'I don't care about who your dad is, Kazekage or not, you're going down.'

"Rock Lee and Dosu Kinuta are to come to the arena!" Hayate's voice carried up to the onlookers as the water filling the bottom of the arena was removed at last.

"I will not disappoint you Gai-sensei!" Lee threw himself over the railing, striking the ground feet first and rushing to the Tokubetsu Jonin. Dosu followed at a much more sedate pace, his hunched and bandaged form slowly walking down the steps and across the arena floor.

'The mission isn't going to plan.' It was all he could think of. Everything had been ruined since the Forest of Death had been overrun by what had to be a thousand clones of the blonde. They had run rampant over the competition and he was still surprised his team had managed to avoid a fight they couldn't win. He had seen too many teams go down trying to get a hold of one of the hoarded scrolls the Uzumaki left lying around. 'I need to finish this quickly and contact Lord Orochimaru about what to do.' His thoughts turned to Kin and Zaku then and he grimaced. 'I'll also need to report their failures…or pay the cost myself if I try to trick Lord Orochimaru.'

'None of that matters now through.' Dosu came to a stop in front of Rock Lee, the green clad Genin and his single visible eye glanced down to the device that would allow him to quickly claim victory. 'No fancy Hyuga eyes, no bugs, no dogs, no clones, and no Sharingan can stop my attacks. This kid will be begging me to finish him off by the time I'm done. Once I'm done with him, I'll finish the mission in the finals.'

"Alright, you two know the rules by now." Hayate stood with his hands in his pockets, he glanced from one of the Genin to the other before he rose one hand. "Begin." He dropped it and once again vanished to the hands on the other side of the arena.

Lee did not immediately attack Dosu, he kept light on his feet and barely seemed to restrain himself from darting forward but did not press his luck.

'Zaku Abumi used sound and air to his advantage, Kin Tsuchi used sound to employ Genjutsu, his skills may be proficient enough to have already trapped me in a Genjutsu but I can break them. Any air attack I can dodge if I see him aim. If he uses sound I will out run it!' Lee's eyes burned with his determination to win just as Dosu slowly brought his arm out from under his straw raincoat.

"It seems this team was adept with teamwork." Gai's comment drew the attention of all those nearby. "Kin possessed long ranged Genjutsu capabilities that were formidable, Zaku possessed mid to close range combat, forcing opponents to avoid his attacks yet still be debilitated by his sound, and it seems Dosu fulfilled another role. My best guess is that he was the interceptor, preventing opponents from drawing close to his teammates with that strange gauntlet on his arm. It no doubt amplifies sound to leave his opponents defenseless to his teammates."

'Spot on, Maito Gai.' The sensei of the Oto team couldn't help but chuckle as he overheard Gai's assessment of the three Genin. 'You truly are something else but I shouldn't be surprised with that coming from the man who rivals a man like Kakashi Hatake, a Jonin who's copied over a thousand techniques with that Sharingan of his.' His eyes stayed focused on the Jonin who looked down towards the arena. 'You always do play the fool to disguise just how frighteningly intelligent you are.'

The Taijutsu master glanced up suddenly and the Oto Shinob did not look away. The two locked eyes.

"You're not too far off, Maito Gai." The Jonin chuckled as he turned his eyes back down to the two Genin. "My team was trained to work together but you'll find they work just as well apart. Two failures can't bring down an entire team with a boy like Dosu-kun to pick up the slack."

Gai's eyes did not leave the Jonin's face for several more moments. He eventually did turn back to the fight but it was with some hesitance. The Jonin fought down the urge to look at the foreign Jonin in the end. He figured his eyes were playing tricks on him.

The idea that he was looking at a corpse was insane. The man across from him had spoken, breathed, and through his eyes shined with a cruelty, they still held the spark of life. The Jonin probably made use of a technique, however strange it was, to mask his appearance for whatever reason.

"Are you just going to stand there all day?" Dosu did not bother with moving forward. His arm was raised up to his chest and already Chakra was gathering there. "It doesn't matter if you decide to stay where you are or attack me. This match will be over in a single attack."

"Indeed." Lee's eyes narrowed as he crouched down, his hands going to his orange leg warmers and reaching into them. "We are at a stalemate that can be decided only by speed!" He rose back to his full height, drawing the weights kept on his legs up with him. "You are proficient in sound based Ninjutsu while I am a burgeoning master of Taijutsu!" He smiled as he tossed the weights away and crouched, falling into a runner's stance.

"It is time to decide which is faster: Sound or my determination!"

His sentence ended and the weights stuck the ground.

'What the hell?' Most present shared the same thought as they saw the craters formed by the weights on impact and the dust clouds that consumed the arena floor.

'Stay focused.' Dosu was different, his stance immediately shifted as he rose to his full height and prepared to make use of his Resonating Echo Speaker, his augmented arm nearly bursting with Chakra he could release as destructive sonic blasts at the level he had charged it to. 'I just need to glance at him and he's finished.'

"I am in front of you!" Lee's words reached him only after he felt the foot powering him into the ground but as he looked down he heard nothing but the cracking of stone.

'He's using an illusion.' Cracks were spreading everywhere on the arena floor but the sound was delayed too much. He was using his poor Genjutsu skills to confuse him, make him hit the wrong spots and waste all of his Chakra. 'This kid is a better ninja than his outfit gives him credit for. Shouldn't be that surprised with a guy like Maito Gai being his sensei.'

It was easy to break the Genjutsu with a surge of Chakra just as Dosu caught sight of a green blur at last and grinned as he threw his arm forward, unleashing a more focused version of his Resonating Echo Drill without further delay. A lance of sound fired forward, a high pitched ringing erupting from the impact as the ground was pulverized.

"Got you." Dosu grinned at his accomplishment before he noticed something.

He didn't see his target a victim of the attack. There was no broken Konoha Genin lying in the new crater that should be occupied.

He instead found himself kicked towards the wall but turned in the air. He avoided cracking it when he landed feet first, his Chakra letting him stick there in a crouch. He swung his arm out and sound waves lanced out like a scythe blade, striking the wall opposite him and leaving a jagged gash in the stone. Dosu knew he had missed but he never intended to hit in the first place. The attack was a large one but he needed distance and that's what it provided.

'Another Genjutsu.' He took note of the cracking tiles around him and jumped off of the wall as he reached into the pouch hidden by his straw raincoat. He withdrew a black pole from inside and the Oto Jonin chuckled at the sight of it.

"Dosu-kun is quite serious if he's bringing out _that_." Baki, a Jonin nearby the Oto Shinobi, glanced at him before looking at the black pole in the Genin's hand now.

"It's just a stick." Baki made his observation known. It was nothing but a short black metal rod.

"It's a prelude to disaster in Dosu-kun's hands." The Jonin chuckled once more, drawing Gai's eyes once more. He quickly focused back on the match going on below them all.

Ringing came with each blow Dosu delivered to his Resonating Echo Speaker, his single visible eye roaming the arena in search of his opponent.

'Any second now I'll find him.' Dosu knew exactly what he was doing it seemed. He was making use of the metal rod to produce sound in the gauntlet without having to worry about building it up in another way. Each strike sent out a ringing that could send any person who heard it to their knees when their eardrums burst. He didn't bother shaping the technique in any way.

He became a bit more forceful when he didn't discover his future victim. The ringing became higher and higher as he beat the rod against his arm faster and faster, producing more and more vibrations to send out across the arena.

He still had nothing to show for his effort through.

"Where are you?" Dosu at last shouted his frustrations as he swung his arm in a circle, turning his body with it.

A high pitched scream followed as the released sound ripped up the tiles of the arena floor around him and sent dust spiraling into the air. He at last spotted his opponent once he completed his revolution.

He was directly in front of him and unleashed a spin kick that sent him hurtling through the air and crashing into the tile, sending the loose stone scattering as his impact fractured each individual piece further and sent splinters of stone everywhere.

'Damn Genjutsu!' Dosu cursed as he struggled back to his feet, banging his Resonating Echo Speaker on the ground in his rage. It helped build up the vibrations as he gathered Chakra to it as well. 'Time for the big guns.'

"Resonating Echo Drill!" Dosu threw his arm forward and a trench was ripped through the arena dead in front of him. The sound he released was inaudible at the frequency he put it out at and left nothing but pulverized stone in wake of the attack.

'Dammit.' Hayate observed from high above the two battling Genin, earplugs rendering him completely deaf to the world. 'This place is getting wrecked, so it'll have to be fixed again, and I'm only halfway through the matches. Yugao's going to kill me if I come home late and at this rate I better get my headstone ready.' He felt like banging his head against the wall. 'Why can't one of these kids just pulverize the other in each match? I could get home on time then.'

Dosu was kicked up into the air as the stone beneath him was cratered. The Oto Genin tried to swing his arm but it wasn't fast enough to stop Lee's next attack.

"That will not work!" Lee's voice again came too late, he was already being powered towards the ground and hit it hard, hardly swinging his arm in time to pulverize the stone to something softer with focused sound waves. He hit the ground and sank into it with his single eye searching the arena for Lee but failing to find him even if the ground continued to crack around him.

'This is getting strange.' Dosu had time to think as he hid himself away for now, idly tapping his finger against his Resonating Echo Speaker to build up his next attack. 'That kid's Genjutsu isn't that good to keep me from breaking it. He can't be good enough to keep reapplying it at the same time.'

Dosu took hold of his now aching face, knowing a bruise was forming from where Lee's first blow had struck him.

'Whatever. I've got an idea.' Dosu closed his eyes, an image of the arena coming to his mind. 'I'll burst out of here but I'll make sure he's a goner when I go up. There should be enough sound built up in this thing to let out a massive blast, one that'll shatter the walls and definitely bring this kid down. Once he's down, he'll be easy pickings.' He could already see it happening.

He would emerge, bursting through the earth while the Genin tried to attack him with his Taijutsu. He'll slam his arm down on the ground, sending out a massive sound wave that would catch the kid unaware. He'll try to take a step forward, stumble, and come falling right into his next blow. A second, point blank, sound wave would finish him off and he'll be advancing to the finals without delay.

'Alright, time to put my plan into action.' Dosu banged his arm on the earthen walls of his hideaway just for insurance before he ripped himself through the earth.

The stone in front of him cracked but he was already ripped free of the ground and tossed into the air, bandages wrapped around his waist and his eyes widened at the pain.

'He's not using Genjutsu.' It was this stunned realization that greeted Dosu before a sandal clad foot fell into his chest.

He was powered into the ground and formed his own crater, his Resonating Echo Speaker useless when he realized he was not trapped in any illusion.

He couldn't hit a kid with sound if he was moving faster than the speed of sound.

'What the hell kind of training did this kid do?' The last Sound Genin in the Chunin Exams caught sight of a panting Lee hardly standing across from him, nearly dead on his feet yet he was still ready to throw himself forward into the fight. His single visible eye closed as he fell unconscious with one last thought.

'I wish I fought the fatso.'

"Rock Lee wins his preliminary match."

* * *

AN: I feel Rock Lee could move faster than sound. I refuse to change this stance. At the same time, I feel Dosu's greatest weapon would be a stick of some kind to produce sound to attack with stronger techniques.


	20. The Results of Laziness!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

* * *

'Everything that has happened has changed too many of my plans.' His team had been eliminated without issue, decimated in truth by Genin having skills no Genin should have. He had expected as much later on but not in the preliminaries. Kin was a fool to think her Genjutsu was greater than an Uchiha so her defeat was a fact once she began talking. She did provide useful date on the Uchiha's mental state though. Zaku could have proven himself against the Uzumaki but failed just like his teammate had. He had provided no useful information and would be dealt with appropriately. And Dosu. 'It's a shame how ill matched he was against Lee-kun.' The Oto Jonin withheld the urge to laugh. 'Who would have thought a Genin would be capable of surpassing sound.' Amusement left his eyes swiftly. 'Regardless of that, everything's been ruined now. It looks like I'll need to rely on my back up after all.' His eyes glanced to the sole Suna team in the preliminaries. 'I admit, I'm curious to see what you can really do.'

'Show me why you are titled Gaara of the Sand.' His eyes traveled to the display that showed the matches next. 'I can't wait to see who you'll kill.'

"Gai-sensei! I succeeded!" Lee leaped up from the arena floor back to the viewing area as Dosu was carried out by the medics. "The results of your training have shown themselves today!"

"You have made me proud with your burning display of youth, Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

All those watching would swear a sunset burst into existence around the embracing Konoha Shinobi.

"I am so embarrassed right now." Tenten sighed into her hand, Neji still dead on his feet and most likely asleep. "Why can't these two act like adults every once in a while?"

'Man, Lee's too happy.' Shikamaru wanted to yawn after what he had just seen. 'What kind of guy trains to move so fast that he beats sound?' Seeing Lee's insane speed made him want to go to sleep. A glance revealed that Lee was just as dead on his feet as Neji and Shikamaru couldn't help but sigh at his luck. 'If Neji and Lee are like that, what does Tenten have to be like to be on a team with those two?' Already his lazy mind wanted him to sleep. The thoughts that had been compiled in seconds made him develop a fear of pointy objects and want to keep a solid object, preferably a shield, between him and Tenten. 'This is such a drag.'

"Looks like the arena's going to take a minute or two to get put back in order for your match." Asuma looked towards the Nara of this generation's Ino-Shika-Cho Trio and sighed. "This is just a suggestion b-"

"Yeah, I got the message Asuma-sensei." Shikamaru looked out as the arena was hastily made ready for the Genin again, Hayate Gekko overseeing the speedy repair. "Don't worry about me, it's too troublesome for these fights to drag on too long for me."

Asuma merely laid a hand on his student's shoulder.

"Don't disappoint me, kid."

"I'll try not to."

"Alright, we're good here."Hayate dismissed the Chunin working on the arena with a nod before he coughed into his hand. He glanced around, the stone tiles one again in place and the worst of the damage covered up with either new additions from Jutsu or shifted material. "I may actually get home on time." He spoke to himself before turning to the viewing area.

"Misumi Tsurugi and Shikamaru Nara are to come to the arena!"

'Let's see.' Shikamaru turned from the railing with a yawn as he began his trip down to the arena. 'The guy I'm fighting is part of Megane-sensei's team and I've seen two of those guys in action. Kabuto dropped out before things got any harder but that Yoroi guy could absorb Chakra from direct contact. Neji still beat him through. From what I saw of Kabuto, he was hiding something but it's all too much of a drag to think about. Doesn't matter since I can guess what this guy can do from the bodies we ran into in the Forest of Death. Ino told me one was drained dry of Chakra and the other had his neck snapped clear as day. Yoroi killed one and that means this guy took out the other kid.'

The Nara began his slow descent down the steps to the arena.

'That means he's pretty strong. The way the neck was bent shows that he was probably close to popping the guy's head off with how much force he used so that means he's strong, too strong to bother with trying to fight or trick. He's too much of a hassle to do anything but get serious with I guess.' Unbidden, Shikamaru's mind was filled with an image of Lee. 'Here I was thinking Lee was some pity case taken on by Gai and it turns out I was very, very wrong. There's no reason to underestimate this guy and get my neck snapped for my troubles.'

His thoughts came to a conclusion a step from the bottom.

'I can't let this match go on any longer than it has to.'

Across from him and in the center of the arena, Misumi stood in front of Hayate. The Nara's eyes narrowed as he focused on his opponent.

" _Yeah…or hopefully they all just give up and we don't have to do anything."_ He remembered his words from a few days ago and couldn't help but sigh.

'I wish I knew being a Shinobi would be this troublesome.' Shikamaru came to a stop in front of Misumi. 'I would have never asked to go to the Academy until I actually had some training.'

"Alright, you guys have already heard me say the same thing enough times to understand how this works." Hayate raised a hand into the air, both Genin focused on the other across from them. "When I bring my hand down, you can use that as the symbol to begin, got it?"

'I need to take him out.' Shikamaru's fingers twitched at his side. 'No mercy.'

"I hope you don't do anything stupid, Shikamaru." Ino looked down at her teammate from the viewing platform, worry shining in her light blue eyes. "Don't be lazy like you always try to be."

"Shikamaru's fine." Choji was certain as he spoke those words. "He's going to end this in one attack."

"Begin!" Hayate leaped away.

Misumi lunged forward. Shikamaru crouched down.

"Shadow Possession Success." His shadow had shot out like a bullet, taking hold of Misumi in the midst of his lunge and leaving him trapped where he stood.

Shikamaru didn't waste time talking, he rose, forcing Misumi's body to mirror him, and reached behind him.

"I'll give you a choice." Shikamaru drew out a kunai but something was added to this one. It was an explosive tag like in so many of the other fights between the Genin aiming to become Chunin. "Either forfeit before I throw this thing or forfeit before the explosive tag explodes." The explosive trailed on a string behind the kunai, tied at the ring at the end. "It's your choice."

Shikamaru drew his arm back. Misumi's struggles to free himself from the Nara's Shadow Possession Technique were worthless. His body was not his to control any longer and would merely mirror Shikamaru's. A Genin stood no chance of breaking out of his technique.

"You don't have the guts to throw that knife." Misumi made a mistake.

Blood fell to the ground as bored eyes took in the new sight before him. Misumi's shoulder was impaled by the kunai and Shikamaru began to take several steps back, his shadow stretching to be thinner and thinner as his victim was forced to do the same.

His attempt to call what he thought was a bluff only ended up with him trapped on his feet, a kunai in his shoulder, and an explosive tag beginning to burn. Detonation was imminent now.

"I've modified the blast of that thing since my shadow won't stretch forever. It's going to be funneled towards you." Shikamaru placed his hands into his pockets as he held back the desire to yawn. "It doesn't matter what you try to do. I made sure to hit a bone when I threw that thing to lodge the kunai's stuck there. Too bad for you but I never felt like paying for the high quality stuff, the explosion will tear that thing to shreds thank to how cheap it is. That produces a large amount of shrapnel that the explosion is going to focus towards you. Unsurprisingly, your odds of being struck by it are a lot higher than mine. One may even strike your neck right here." Shikamaru pressed a hand to his neck, Misumi forced to mirror him. "If it does, you may bleed out before you can tell me you give up."

"To prevent any of that, you should say you forfeit now." Shikamaru yawned once more. He stretched his arms over his head and Misumi bit down his pain as the kunai shifted. "I don't really care what you do but I don't want to be responsible for the mess you'll make if you let something like pride get in the way. You're probably going to lose that arm if you don't forfeit the match by the way."

The Nara rolled his shoulders back, blood falling from Misumi's wound as the weapon embedded there shifted further and further with each movement he was forced to mirror.

The seal that would cause the explosive tag to detonate was brought closer and closer to the fire.

Misumi was no fool. Nara's were frighteningly intelligent and this one was no different. Death was the only outcome if he stubbornly refused to give up. His only chance for survival would be to surrender.

"I forfeit!"

"Shikamaru Nara wins his preliminary match." Once those words were spoken, Shikamaru's shadow retreated from Misumi's. A thin strand still connected them but already Shikamaru was turning to leave. Misumi still mirrored his movements. The paper bomb still burned, moments away from detonation as Misumi's eyes widened in panic.

"What are you doing? W-" The bomb exploded.

"I'm tired." The gag explosive tag erupted into a shower of confetti around Misumi. "Trying out for a Chunin is too much work."

He left the arena and, once he was back in the viewing area, slid down the wall and fell asleep.

'You're a bit too big on the results of laziness kid.' Asuma shook his head at his student's actions, a good natured smile on his face. 'I never thought you'd win your match like that through. Honestly thought I would see a bit of your genius shine through but there's always next time I guess.'

"Hinata Hyuga and Kankuro of the Sand are to come to the arena!"

'Maybe I will get home in time.' A smile played across Hayate Gekko's pale face. 'Yugao won't kill me then.'

* * *

AN: No comment towards the match really. Misumi never stood a chance. Shikamaru was determined to end the match as soon as possible.


	21. Puppet vs Byakugan!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

* * *

"Kankuro." Before the black clothed Suna Genin could leave the viewing area, he was stopped by the Jonin in charge of his team. "Remember what's at stake in this match. Failure is not an option."

"Don't think I don't know that, Baki." He did not turn to face the Jonin, his eyes were focused on the Hyuga that already stood with the proctor of the preliminaries. "I've got this."

"See that you do." Baki turned his eyes from Kankuro's back to the red haired boy who stood apart from them all, his green eyes having never left any of the matches. "We both know the consequence of your failure."

Sand floated in the air around him. It reeked of the iron of blood. The consequence was clear and it would be swift. None of those that knew of the boy could say he ever wasted time. He would sooner do it quickly and move onto the next then take his time.

Kankuro spoke no words in response to Baki's own. The Genin simply adjusted the bandaged burden on his pack and headed down the stairs.

Words weren't needed when death hung in the air.

"Kurenai-sensei, may I ask a question." Shino stood next to her, the Genin was the sole member of her team still standing with her with Hinata about to fight and Kiba taken away by the Medical-nin to treat his Chakra exhaustion. He had been silently observing everything until now.

"What is it, Shino?" Her eyes stayed focused on Hinata as her opponent approached her, the black clad Genin from Sunagakure. She recognized his face, despite the paint, as the same face in the photo she had looked over only a few days ago.

'Hinata's fighting one of the Kazekage's sons…' She didn't know to be worried or not about her student. On one hand, Hinata's skills were incredible despite her timid nature and had grown by a great amount thanks to her commitment to her training. On the other hand, her opponent was Kankuro. He was one of the sons of the Kazekage. That alone was enough to make her worry. 'Don't let it get to you Hinata. I know you can defeat him as long as you stay focused on the match.' She tried to find her earlier confidence in her team but it was gone.

"Hinata's opponent makes use of the Puppet Technique, correct?" Shino's covered eyes did not leave the form of Hinata's opponent. They were narrowed in thought even if none could see them.

"I would imagine it's either that or the thing on his back is just for strength training like the weights Gai's student wore." She couldn't repress the jolt of fear that shot through her at the thought of Hinata facing someone with Lee's amazing speed.

Her student would be beaten. She could even be killed.

'All because I couldn't say no.' The image of the gentle Hyuga she found herself caring for more than a sensei should as nothing but a lifeless corpse in a morgue took hold of her mind, would haunt her tonight to matter the outcome of the fight. Hinata would be gone and it would all be because of her, because she hadn't trained her enough, because she couldn't tell her she wasn't ready for the exams. 'Anything that happens will be my fault because I couldn't tell her she wasn't ready.'

Any blood that stained the ground from the girl she saw more as her daughter than her student would be on her hands and already she felt herself nearly trembling. Only the iron will of a Jonin stopped her from allowing everyone to see the worry she held for her student.

"That would be a problem." Shino did not speak anymore. He needed to focus.

"You know, you could just surrender now." Kankuro wasn't silent once he had reached Hinata. "You Leaf Ninja aren't really ready to handle someone like me. I'm not some inexperienced kid like you. I bet you've never even gone on an assassination mission."

"N-No, I haven't." Hinata had not even activated her Byakugan yet. Kankuro sneered.

"Just like I thought. You don't need to be a Shinobi if you can't handle the thought of killing someone, of poisoning them, of slitting their throat before they have a chance to do the same to you." His hand left the strap over his shoulder and he pointed to Hinata. "Just give up now and you don't have to worry about me killing someone as weak as you. It'll be embarrassing honestly to kill a weakling like you to become a Chunin."

"…" The Hyuga said nothing but her face told them all the doubts she now had. She had let the words of the Sand Ninja join the already growing tempest of doubt in her mind if she was ready for these exams. Her mind did not drift but returned to events prior in the day. The banging of metal on metal came to her ears at the same time the words that seemed to have carved themselves into her mind began.

" _You once told me not too long ago that teamwork is vital yet all I see before me, the result of teamwork, is a weak fool. She is nothing but beaten and broken by my men. I told you once that nothing, especially not that vile thing known as teamwork, could stand against my glorious Legion! Look at that pathetic girl and see why teamwork is so worthless when compared to the might of my magnificent, my unbeatable, my glorious Legion! All of you take in the sight of what teamwork creates! A weakness like no other! Nothing can compare to the folly that is a dependence on something so pathetic! Only the weaklings that pollute these lands have the audacity to band together in a vain attempt to challenge the strong of this world! All you must do to see my words are true is to look upon that beaten form below you! Look upon it and see why teamwork is so worthless against my mighty Orange Legion! All of you look and tremble as you see the future of all those who seek to use such a pathetic thing as teamwork against my glorious Legion! Look as you see the results of teamwork against the incalculable might of my grand Empire! Look and be disgusted! See weakness and know it dwells in each of your foolish hearts if you believe in teamwork! Graze upon the Praetor of a Legion and the Caesar of an Empire and know you will be squashed like ants before my might!"_

'I couldn't stand on my own. I was always being protected by Kiba, by Shino, by Kurenai-sensei…I was weak. But I can fight for myself now, I can fight with my own power and no one else's! I can show him how strong I've become!'

She remembered Ino, spared from pain by Sakura, she remembered Naruto triumphing over Zaku without effort, Sasuke doing the same against his opponent, and she remembered the way he had looked at her days ago.

'I can't give up.' Wordlessly her Byakugan activated and she stepped into a Gentle Fist stance. 'I won't be weak anymore.' An image of blue eyes flashed in her mind, a handsome tanned face holding them. A smile she would never forget followed. 'I'll be strong for him.'

"You two know the rules by now. Don't aim to kill each other and the match ends either when I say so or when someone forfeits." Hayate raised his hand into the air, knowing the two were ready to fight. "Begin!" He vanished from sight just as Hinata lunged forward.

A Chakra releasing blow was narrowly dodged by Kankuro, the Suna Shinobi not wasting anytime it seemed as he let the bandaged burden he carried fall. Blue strings of Chakra connected to it before the bandages were shredded.

"I gave you a chance to live through this girl but I'm not giving you a second." Kankuro crouched, the clattering and clicking of the puppet sounding across the arena as he looked to Hinata. "I've figured out enough about your Gentle Fist style to know it's going to be useless to you in this fight."

Hinata let nothing show on her face, she merely exhaled as Chakra gathered at each of her fingertips once more. The veins the use of her Byakugan caused to bulge pulsed as she readied herself for the next clash.

"Hmm, maybe you don't know how legendary this puppet really is from the look on your face. There's a real lack of fear show I'll give you a quick history lesson." Kankuro rose back to his full height, letting the puppet float around him and move in front of him. "This is the puppet known as Crow, the same one made famous by the Sunagakure Puppet Brigade's Sasori of the Red Sand thanks to his use of it during the Third Shinobi World War." Kankuro grinned when Hinata couldn't hide the new fear her face held. It appeared the moment he mentioned the S-Rank Missing-nin. "No matter how strong you think you are, you're going to die if you keep fighting me."

The two lower arms of the puppet suddenly shot upright, the hollow inside revealed before two spheres flew forward. Hinata ducked to the side to avoid them and she made the right choice, the instant the two spheres struck the wall behind her they exploded.

"That's only one of Crow's dozens of hidden weapons and tricks." Kankuro smirked as he twitched his fingers, the puppet beginning to move from side to side in sharp jarring movements. "Do you want to see anymore or do you want to give up like you should have from the start." The puppet's mouth opened and closed, clicking filling the air. "You'll avoid more pain than you can imagine if you quit now."

"I won't give up." Hinata breathed out once more, centering herself as she briefly closed her eyes. "I will win this fight."

"Your funeral." Kankuro didn't waste time. Crow erupted into movement, dashing through the air towards the Hyuga before suddenly veering to the right, dodging her attempt to remove one of its arms with a strike. It leapt into the air before she could turn to strike it and descended on her, the segments of the fingers on each hand separating and hanging on long razor sharp wire. A twitch of two of Kankuro's finger had the arms swinging and sending them towards Hinata with a great sweeping range.

Hinata ducked underneath the razor sharp wire, jumping away from the main body as well as it tried to land on her. The fingers quickly snapped back into place with a whirling sound from within the puppet, the wire drawn back by some hidden mechanism. She lashed out at Crow, hoping to disable it once more, and the puppet avoided her with another twitch of Kankuro's fingers.

'I can see the weak points of his puppet.' Hinata avoided the puppet's wild melee attacks as Kankuro brought it in close with a dive before it swept back into the air. 'If I can strike one of them I can disable it long enough to defeat him.'

"You need to give up already!" Crow clicked and clacked as it swung back down towards Hinata, its arms and legs suddenly splitting in half and firing off. Blades hidden in the wood folded out of both halves and, in total, twelve blades shot towards Hinata from above. At the same time, Crow's mouth opened and unleashed a hail of sharp needles.

'Poison!' Hinata saw it with her Byakugan, the dripping poison covering the blade of every blade, every needle. She had no choice but to make use of a technique she had no mastery of if she wanted to win, to prove herself at last to him.

'I won't fail. I'll show him that I'm strong on my own without Kiba, without Shino!' She channeled Chakra to her hands, taking in a deep rapid breath as the barrage of needles neared her. 'I have to win this match. No matter what it takes, I'll defeat him!'

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!" She threw both hands out towards the needles, releasing a wave of Chakra that send them scattering across the ground around her. Kankuro let his irritation show but the blades still descended on her, some even guided by the Puppet User if the blue strings of Chakra connected to them told the truth.

Hinata saw the approach of all twelve blades with the use of her Byakugan.

She bent herself completely backwards, her back forming a perfect arch, and onto her outstretched hands to avoid the first six blades crossing where her torso once was before she threw herself back into a flip, dodging the next three that aimed to impale her legs. The last three failed to strike her when she struck the ground on her stomach and quickly rose back to her feet.

Crow's limbless body couldn't stop her, Hinata striking the puppet's chest with a blinding number of blows. Splinters of wood and bits of metal flew as she disabled the puppet with her Byakugan guided strikes. She didn't seek to merely destroy it through, she injected Chakra into the minute mechanisms of the puppet with every blow and jammed them in place. Kankuro didn't hide his shock at the results of her attack, his Chakra Threads trying to make the puppet move but failing. It could hardly twitched, simple an immobile block of wood after she was finished with it.

'Dammit.' The Puppeteer was not renowned for his Taijutsu, he could not compare to a clan like the Hyuga who excelled at it with the Gentle Fist. He couldn't match her skills even if he wanted to as she charged him with his sole means of both offense and defense destroyed. 'This isn't good.'

"Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!" She lunged forward, Chakra leaking from her fingers as Kankuro cursed. He tried to backpedal, bring some distance between the two, but he already knew it was worthless. He wasn't fast enough to dodge or good enough to go blow for blow with her. He only brought himself a few extra seconds that he could use to think. He needed a plan, needed something to get in the way of the Hyuga but she had destroyed Crow, rendered it an unusable pile of wood chips and splinters.

He needed something to stop her, anything, and his eyes roamed over the battlefield. A Puppeteer could make do with the pieces of a puppet as much as they do with a whole puppet.

'That'll do.' A Chakra blade connected to his last hope of winning and, with a flick of his finger, he ended the match.

A single blade ripped through her from behind.

"HINATA!" Kurenai's scream came through the empty arena. It took both Asuma and Gai grabbing hold of either of her arms as she watched her student be impaled from behind. "Let me go!"

"Ha!" Hinata fell to her knees as any trace of fear left Kankuro's face and was replaced with one of triumph instead. The Chakra thread responsible for manipulating the blade into the Hyuga vanished as he looked at the destroyed Crow. He let out a mild string of curses at the sight of the puppet, it nearly ruined beyond repair. "You actually did more damage than I thought you could but this is over with."

Hinata's hands came up to the blade currently sticking through her stomach, blood staining her clothes and the ground as it ran down the poisoned weapon. Her Byakugan remained in her eyes as she struggled to remain where she was, struggle to get back up to her feet, to do something.

"I…I can't lose…" Blue eyes took hold of her mind, they were the only thing driving her now. "I…I have to…show…him…"

"Alright back away." Hayate landed next to her, laying a hand on her shoulder as the other held a cloth. "This ma-"

"NO!" Hinata shoved him away with bloody hands, somehow succeeding in rising to her feet. Her body was shaking but she refused to fall it seemed. "I-I can still fight!"

"No you can't." Hayate looked down at the bloody hand marks on his flak jacket now and sighed. "You need to get that looked at and-" The proctor turned his eyes to the smirking Suna Shinobi. "-he'll be providing an antidote to his poison to the Medical-nin."

"I don't forfeit! I'm not giving up!" Panic seemed to take hold of Hinata, that and a rabid desire to prove herself. "I can still fight!"

"It doesn't matter what you want, girl." Hayate took hold of her shoulder once more, forcing her to see only him. "You have a blade **impaling** you. I'm stopping this match." He didn't spend any more time with her, calling for the Medical-nin that were already rushing over to the two. One came up to Kankuro, the Suna Shinobi not at all happy but giving up a vial he unsealed from a scroll. He used the same scroll to seal away the shattered body of his puppet.

"Go with them." Hayate stepped back from her, a look to the Medical-nin stopping them from getting any closer to Hinata. His eyes softened as he looked at the girl who had so much resting on her shoulders. "There's always next year kid."

"NO!" Hinata once again shouted at him before her eyes fell down to the blade protruding from her stomach. "…I can remove it…" Her words were too soft to be heard except for two sets of ears.

Her hands shifted just as Hayate's eyes widened when he realized what she was doing. He threw himself forward just as her hand took hold of the handle and she closed her eyes.

'I never thought I would see something like this from a girl like her.' Kakashi Hatake held both of Hinata's hands out of the way in his while Maito Gai kept her from trying to thrash in the masked Shinobi's grip and do any worse damage to herself as his eyes took in her wound.

"You need to calm down before you hurt yourself anymore." Kakashi kept his distance from the blade going through her by standing at her side, shifting her hands above her head and into one of his hands. He reached into his flak jacket and drew out a kunai and it crackled when he coated it in his Lightning-natured Chakra.

"Let me go!" Hinata tried to twist and turn but Gai's grip was too strong, already several Medical-nin were hurrying to her and one drew out a needle. "I can still fight!"

"No you can't." Kurenai pressed down, injecting the sedative into Hinata before she could do anything else to make her already serious wound any worse. "It's time for you to rest."

"I-I…" Her eyes drifted shut, the Byakugan fading from them as she went limp in Kakashi's grip. His lightning infused kunai swung down and removed a majority of the blade going through her stomach, the hilt and part of the blade clattering to the ground as Kakashi handed her over to the Medical-nin.

'I'm sorry about this Hinata.' Kurenai watched as her student was put on a stretcher and carried away. One Medical-nin took hold of the remaining part of the blade and drew it out before handing it off. A cloth was pressed to both sides of her wound to keep it from bleeding any more than it already had. 'I should have never entered you into these exams.'

"We need to talk once these exams are finished, Kakashi."

"Meet me at the usual spot."

The Copy Ninja said no more to the Green Beast before vanishing from sight once more. It wasn't clear where he went to this time.

'That…that match definitely didn't go like I thought it would.' Hayate looked away from the arena, the blood, and towards where the Hokage continued to observe the preliminaries of the Chunin Exams. 'You must have a reason for being her Hokage-sama but what is it? These matches are impressive but nothing to someone who's earned a title like Kami no Shinobi. Why did you decide to stay here? Why not do what we all know you want to.'

A brief image flashed in his mind: The moment the boy named Naruto Uzumaki had declared himself Caesar. He remembered the look in the Hokage's eyes, he had turned to him for orders the moment the kid began ranting and saw something he wished he hadn't.

Sorrow. Disappointment. Guilt. Those three shined in the aged eyes of the Hokage the entire time the Uzumaki spoke and when he fought.

'That kid left after his match, his entire team is gone so why bother staying when I know none of these kids are worth much time. A few Clan Heirs and Heiresses you've already met plenty of times, a couple kids with more talent than most expect but nothing else. Every ninja in the village worth his rank knows how much of a pain the Uzumaki kid is turning out to be, the same kid we all know you won't take down like we all know you need to. Now, my question is why didn't you go after him when you left?'

"Temari of the Sand and Choji Akimichi are to come to the arena!"

* * *

AN: I like Hinata's crush on Naruto. He will abuse said crush later. I will develop her as a character. As for the fight? Could have gone either way, I had an idea that made me decide on Kankuro winning. Question for you, my reader: How is Kurenai? Reply if you'd like to.


	22. The Desert's Wind vs The Forest's Heft

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

* * *

"I feel I should just let you know, I'm not going easy on you." Temari leaned on her large iron fan, smirking at the Akimichi who continued to shovel handful of chips into his mouth from the bag in his hands. "I plan to beat all of you Konoha ninja so don't expect this match to last long. If I'm feeling generous I won't beat you too badly in front of your friends."

"Alright." Choji spoke no more, Temari biting down the desire to curse him at his dismissal before she turned to the Tokubetsu Jonin acting as the proctor of the preliminaries. "Start the match already."

"Don't rush me." Hayate coughed into his hand. "The rules are the same as I've described before. Don't try to kill each other and the match ends either when I call it or if one of you decides to forfeit the match. If I say stop then you stop."

"Whatever." Temari rolled her eyes, drawing her fan out from the ground in front of her. She rested it behind her, opening it partly to display one purple dot emblazoned on the fan's interior. "Just start the match already before I get too bored."

Hayate was silent as he looked to Choji, the Akimichi nodding even if he continued shoveling mouthful after mouthful of chips into his mouth. It was all the confirmation the Shinobi needed before he rose his arm into the air.

"Begin." He leaped away.

"And it's over!" She swung her fan forward, unleashing a visible gale of deadly blades of wind. All of them soared towards Choji who only took a moment before throwing himself forward into the attack.

"Baika no Jutsu!" Choji's size increased at least four times, the enlarged Genin throwing himself forward. "Nikudan Sensha!"

Temari narrowly avoided the famous Human Bullet Tank technique of the Akimichi Clan, throwing herself to the side after hastily closing her fan. She was almost crushed by the rolling Akimichi regardless of her reaction time and hit the ground with a roll, coming up on her feet and swinging her fan out in front of her.

'Time for two.' She snapped it open, two of the purple dots on display as she drew it back.

"Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" She swung and this time a vortex of winds erupted forward, rampaging towards the spherical form her opponent had taken. He crashed into the wall and bounced off of it, shrinking down in a puff of smoke and sidestepping the vortex just in time. He drew out the bag of chips he once had in his hands and began to munch on them again.

"Choji's got some skill." Ino's comment made Asuma grin. "I knew he mastered his Clan's Hiden techniques but he's really good."

"Of course he is." Asuma chuckled as he saw Choji dump the bag into his mouth, chewing a bit louder than necessary as the Suna Kunoichi's eyes narrowed in irritation. "He's a Clan Heir like you and Shikamaru, he's got to have a bit of power no matter what his Ninja Rank may be."

"But he's a lot stronger than he showed us before." Ino's voice carried the confusion she was feeling as she watched Choji. "Why didn't he show skills like that on our missions, what kind of training did he do that he kept so secret from us?"

"That isn't the result of training Ino." Asuma's eyes followed Choji as he threw the now empty bag away. "Most Akimichi's are naturals when it comes to combat despite their size and what most people think of them thanks to the way they look." Asuma drew out a cigarette, lighting it with his lighter once he brought it up to his mouth. "People think they're slow idiots just because they're a bit on the heavy side but couldn't be more wrong. Most of the Clan can be deceptively fast and our too tough for most to think about taking on without some proper backup."

"Really?" Ino looked from her sensei to her teammate. "How do you know that, Asuma-sensei?"

"I fought Choji's dad when I was around your age." Asuma found himself in the past then, seeing a cocky teen looking across a street to a heavy teen. "The fight didn't end in my favor at all."

" _What did you just call me!"_

" _Fat! Got it yet fatso or want me to say it again?"_

" _You better not!"_

" _Fat! Fat! Fat! Fat!"_

" _That's it!"_

Asuma winced at the memory. He had been not only young but foolish at the time. He had thought he could take on Choza Akimichi when they were younger and insulted him to draw him into a fight that he thought he had no chance of losing. He still remembered the look on his father's face when he came into the infirmary after his son had been, quite literally, pounded into the ground. Once he had heard the full story of what had happened from the police called to the scene he had called his son an idiot.

The lessons he took from that day were two. One was to never call an Akimichi fat ever again and expect to walk away. Two was that Akimichi's fist could get surprisingly big when they got pissed off. He knew both from firsthand experience.

"That was pretty good for a big guy like you." Temari closed her fan once more, resting it behind her in what must be her resting pose with it. "I'm surprised you have such a good grasp of your Clan's Hiden techniques so young."

Choji didn't respond. He drew out another bag of chips from his seemingly endless supply of them and opened them with the crinkle of the bag seeming to echo around the arena. He began to shovel handful after handful of chips into his mouth as Temari felt a twitch take hold of her eyebrow.

'This damn fatass.' Temari withheld the desire to say such. She knew about an Akimichi's temper. 'I'm going to kill him if he's not taking this seriously.'

She swung her fan, opening it to display one purple dot, before swinging it back and forth. She created a solid row of air blades that she knew couldn't be avoided. It was hopeless. Only someone like _Him_ could block her attacks and only with his sand.

She had seen it with her own eyes. It was why she could attack without much issue about him in the way or, as impossible as it was, getting hurt by her. His sand ALWAYS protected him.

"You must feel proud of yourself, Akimichi." Temari swung her fan in front of her, planting the folded steel fan into the ground. "I wonder how proud you'll feel once I show you a bit more power with more than two of my moons."

Choji was silent, still shoveling handful of chips into his mouth without end it seemed. Temari's eyebrow twitch became a bit more pronounced. She ripped her fan free of the ground, snapped it open and revealed three purple dots on the inside, and swung it with all her strength.

"Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" A much larger vortex ripped towards the Akimichi. It roared as it cut through the air, as it ripped up the tile beneath it, and turned it into jagged pieces of shrapnel turned into blades to add to its already high lethality.

'Let's see him beat this thing.' Temari smiled behind her fan.

Her victory was a sure thing now.

"Nikudan Sensha!" He was consumed in smoke before a sphere erupted across the arena floor, narrowly dodging the deadly vortex.

"Oh come on!" She whisper yelled as the giant sphere barreled to the side, completely avoiding her attack. She swung her fan once more, just releasing a massive slicing wave on the Konoha Genin. She grinned when she saw him fail to avoid it, striking the rolling Akimichi and making him grunt in pain. Blood struck the ground, leaving a trail as he rolled across it.

'Looks like he can't turn well.' Temari smirked as she closed her fan, revealing only one moon, before swinging it again. A single crescent of wind shot across the arena, low to the ground and as quiet as she could make it. Choji's body shrunk in a blast of smoke and he panted where he stood, struggling to catch his breath. 'Got him.'

The crescent of wing took his legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the ground.

She pressed her advantage, opening her fan to display two moons and swinging it once more. The action sent forth another vortex from the fan out that lifted her opponent high into the air. She snapped her fan open to display all three moons and swung it once more, a second vortex joining with the first and making it double in size. Choji continued to be carried in the vortex, obscured by the dust being picked up by the giant vortex as it grew larger and larger and became more violent and violent in its movements.

'He's done in there.' Temari could dimly see the silhouette of Choji as he was thrown back and forth by the violent cyclone she had created to defeat the Akimichi. 'He can get as big as he wants but I can keep making it bigger and, on top of that I-" She impaled her fan into the ground and reached into the ninja pouch she wore. Her hands came away filled with peculiar shuriken. '-have these!'

She threw them forward, letting the cyclone consume the square shaped shuriken she had thrown with a smile crossing her face.

"It makes sense she would have those shuriken on her. Suna's Shinobi, all the Kazekage in their history too, are well known for their unique Kekkei Genkai in the Magnet Release." Tenten's keen eye had identified the origins of the shuriken without issue. She would be embarrassed if she hadn't been able to identify the weapons that had a certain level of fame to them. "It's surprising she's throwing them through. Those type of shuriken aren't designed to be held or even thrown like that, closer to manipulated with the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai so many Suna Shinobi possess. Well, at least as much as you can call the few who do have it many."

"You are quite knowledgeable on weapons as always Tenten." Gai smiled at his student, honestly impressed at her commitment to her specialty. She didn't simply limit herself to handling the weapons but learning about them, mastering several techniques with each, and more. She was well on her way to becoming a master of bukijutsu. "You could become a teacher if you so desired with how much knowledge you possess."

"It's not like it's difficult to identify them." Tenten blushed at the quiet praise from her normally overzealous teacher. "Anyone who knows enough about Suna can name those weapons."

'I doubt that.'

"Proctor, call the match already!" Temari turned away from the vortex that continued to rage in front of her. "He's done in there."

"Don't think you can take down a guy like Choji with something that weak!" Ino's voice called down to her, Temari glaring at the girl.

'She's the one that crazy blonde tried to blind.' Everyone would remember the blonde's insane ramblings about being a 'Caesar' of an empire. 'What is she even talking about? That kid is done for in there.' She could already envision what was happening. 'He's trapped in the center, nothing to launch off of. Those shuriken, my blades of wind, and anything else that vortex picks up are cutting him to ribbons right now. He'll either pass out from the pain or give up to stop it.'

A smile came to her face unbidden.

'And then it's just one more match before these exams are over with.'

"Nikudan Sensha!"

"You can't be serious! He's using that same technique again!" She swung her fan in the midst of her outrage, revealing one moon and sending a single blade up the vortex, aiming to cut the sphere the Akimichi had turned himself into apart before he could try anything. She missed since he plummeted to the ground.

'Of course!' Her eyes widened at a sudden realization. 'He's turned himself into a stone like that! My Jutsu can't keep him in the air any longer with so little resistance!'

"Cho Baika no Jutsu!" Choji's voice echoed just as his already large body exploded to three times his original size. He ripped through the vortex and plummeted to the ground, spinning in the air. Temari saw this and quickly snapped her fan open, revealing all three moons.

'One chance, can't waste it.' Neither knew they mirrored each other's thoughts.

"Die!" Temari swung her fan, unleashing a solid wall of air blades with a good amount of her Chakra.

'I'm glad she couldn't see me in that vortex.' His body was covered by belts of kunai.

"Nikudan Hari Sensha!" The ground was torn apart on his impact, jagged pieces of it ripped up by the blades of the kunai wrapped around him. Temari didn't attempt to dodge surprisingly, she simply swung her fan twice more with a battle cry.

Her hope was clearly to try and out power the Akimichi.

The wall of wind met the rotating spiked sphere and achieved a minor victory. It successfully ripped the belts of kunai Choji wore apart but didn't manage much else. The Akimichi's enlarged form continued its violent rotations and was slowly pushing itself through the technique of the Suna Kunoichi.

"Oh no you don't!" She swung the fan again and again in front of her, releasing large devastating blades of wind against him without pause. "Getting that big only makes you an easier target fatass!"

'Hmm, she's done it now.' Asuma couldn't help but shake his head at the insult. 'She's set him off now.'

"Did you just call me fat!" Choji's voice sounded just as the sphere changed, the massive form of the Genin taking its place with a visible burst of Chakra, dispersing the wall of wind he had battled against for several moments. His enraged expression was clear as he stomped forward. "I'll smash you to paste!"

'Looks like a hair trigger temper when it comes to his weight.' Temari took note of his reaction as she closed her fan and put it on her back. Her legs bent slightly before she was leaping away from the Akimichi before one of his giant fist could succeed in killing her. 'That's something to know.' The blades of wind she had unleashed earlier tore at the Akimichi but nothing came of it, he only continued his furious pursuit of her without ceasing at all. The wounds could be ignored in his giant form it seemed.

"I called you a fatass!" She had to edge him on, keep him angry and unfocused on his Chakra. She may not be able to hurt him much in his current form but she could definitely tire him out if he didn't clear his head soon enough.

The tiles of the arena were smashed to pieces one after the other with each massive step Choji took, each bringing tremors with it, each sending dust flying high into the air and creating a cloud covering the arena floor. The Sand Kunoichi used this to her advantage, avoiding the enraged Akimichi by hiding within something similar to the sandstorms she would sometimes be caught in when coming or leaving Sunagakure.

'I just need to let him burn through all his Chakra.' Temari's plan was in place, the Kunoichi keeping herself hidden from view without issue. 'He's a Genin so he can't keep that form for long. I can already see him getting skinnier and skinnier anyway. His anger's not letting him think straight it looks like.'

"I'll smash you!" The large Genin leaped into the air, belly flopping onto the ground and sending a tremor through it that made the viewing area shake and nearly crack thanks to the force responsible for the massive crater now marring the arena.

'This may not be as easy as I thought.' Temari paled from where she now hid behind an upturned and jagged rock. 'He nearly got me through sheer area of effect it looks like. But he's still getting thinner and thinner. He'll be done sooner rather than later at the rate he's going.'

Temari was right, the fat seemed to be melting off of Choji. He could probably, at best, keep his increased size for another minute before he would simply collapse. The techniques of the Akimichi Clan were known to burn through their Chakra ridiculously fast.

She knew he wouldn't last much longer. She would just need to hold out then.

"You thought you could hide, didn't you!" It was her plan to hold out at least until a massive hand ripped up the stone she was hiding behind, bringing it down like a hammer seconds later. She narrowly leaped out of the way of it and swung her fan while in the air for two reasons.

One, unleash an attack on him no matter how worthless it may be to the Genin's new giant form. Two, propel herself further back in the air and hit the wall of the arena sandal first.

"That's it." She rose her thumb to her mouth. "I'm taking you out with one move, fatso!" She taunted him and earned an enraged shout from the Akimichi as he threw himself forward in a run, each step of his run bringing with it more and more tremors. She didn't let it bother her anymore, opening up a cut on her thumb before smearing the blood from the split skin on her fan as she opened it, revealing all three moons.

"Kuchiyose: Kirikiri Mai!"

What happened next was a blur. Only the trained eyes of a Jonin could catch even a glimpse of what had happened.

The aged Hokage merely sighed.

'You need to have a talk with your son Choza. Teach him to have some thicker skin.'

Regardless of it one could see the events, Choji's shirt was dyed crimson as he collapsed and rapidly shrunk back to normal size and a grinning Temari fell off of the wall and folded her fan once more. She stumbled upon hitting the ground but quickly used her large fan to support herself. Her hand, her thumb specifically, left blood on the black metal but she didn't care as she saw her opponent defeated on the ground.

"I knew I could beat you, fatass." She grinned as she turned to where the proctor stood. "Call the m-"

She narrowly dodged the kunai thrown at her head.

The Akimichi's enraged face met her own shocked one as somehow he wasn't face down in his growing pool of blood.

"How the hell are you getting up?" Temari ripped her fan free of the ground but almost fell over.

'Dammit, I'm suffering from Chakra exhaustion after summoning Kamatari.' She quickly embedded her fan into the ground once more, leaning on it heavily. 'He should be unconscious right now from blood loss with the wounds I just gave him so how the hell is he standing up!'

"Ha…do you really think I'm going down like that?" Choji panted as he somehow rose to his feet, the front of his shirt stained red but somehow he stood despite his wounds. "Do you think I'm going to be the only guy on my team who doesn't win his match?"

"You should be dead!" Temari snapped but her attempt to attack failed. She would fall if she removed her fan from the ground. It was the only thing supporting her now. The thin Akimichi seemed to know this from how he began to walk towards her. "How are you standing up?"

"Your attack didn't hit me." Choji answered her question at the same time one of his hands reached into his jacket, the movement tearing his blood red shirt more and revealing a multitude of insignificant wounds dotting his torso. "You just hit my drink."

"WHAT!" Temari's eyes widened when the Akimichi withdrew his hand and let the object held in it fall. It was a cherry drink can that clattered with a deafening sound as it struck the ground.

"Yeah, surprising isn't it?" Choji reached into his jacket again, drawing out what looked like a candy bar. "I was saving a few cans for later when your attack took them out of my pocket and some of the blades of air cut them open. It covered my shirt and kept pouring out when I hit the ground."

'You're nothing but a bastard, Kamatari!' Temari knew the weasel was to blame for her current situation. She could hardly stand and he knew exactly what he was doing during the attack. He had intentionally struck the drink cans like the bastard he was. 'Do you want me to lose or something?'

Choji bit off the top of the wrapping of the candy bar but didn't get much further than that. The too thin Akimichi collapsed to the ground after his reckless use of his Clan's more advanced techniques had drained him of all of his Chakra.

'Sorry Ino, Shikamaru.' He hit the ground hard. 'It looks like we couldn't sweep this thing like we thought.' Despite his own failure, he smiled. 'I know you two will make great Chunin…just wait for me to catch up.'

The exhausted Temari didn't stay standing for much longer, her fan falling with her as she joined Choji on the ground.

'Looks like we have a winner…even if it was a near thing.' Hayate appeared between the two collapsed Genin and raised his hand into the air. 'The kid passed out first.'

"Temari of the Sand wins her preliminary match."

* * *

AN: And by the skin of her teeth, Temari wins. This fight was one I didn't like for a while. Thought for Choji to win, decided against it. Temari advanced.

Alright, one fight left. Don't know when I'll update again. May want to do a really long one, get through the rest of the Chunin Exams. I'm currently writing the Finals and such.

Onward to replies:

Guest: I have full intentions for Naruto to conquer and you're right. This has mainly been build up to the inevitable.

Donthedarkdragon26: I will hopefully continue to keep you entertained. And thank you.

Huntress9894: Yes, Naruto and his Legion has a fair amount of crazies. Sakura and Kakashi are a good pair to root for too. As for Shikamaru? Only the future will show what happens with him. And the invasion will have a certain spin to it.

hennessyswagg83: Naruto's arrogance and irrational hatred for Kakashi is designed to be as such. He's sort of a dick. I hope you keep reading but I can't fault you for this not being something you enjoy.

Megatronus Uchiha: I endeavored for Naruto's obsession to be just as you've described! And I will look into other troops for Naruto to possess. I want to stick to the original idea I had but I'm always open to suggestions.

Reply or PM if you have:

A) Questions.

B) Comments.

C) and/or Concerns.

Peace.


	23. The Final Match!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Not much.

* * *

"Alright….looks like we're nearly done here." Hayate talked mainly to himself as the arena was repaired by a group of fresh Chunin after the two unconscious Genin had been taken up to the viewing area by their respective sensei. "One more match and I get to go home."

'…and Yugao will hopefully not kill me for being late.'

"Gai-sensei, my match is up next." Tenten was grinning as she looked to where her name was at last lit up on the board. "'Tenten Ken versus Gaara of the Sand'." She read off her name and the title of her opponent, the last of the foreign Shinobi that had made it this far in the Exams. "I can't wait to show everyone here what I can really do."

"Yes…" Gai looked at the boy his student would be fighting. "I am anxious to see just how brightly your flames of youth burn!" He offered her a thumb up and a blindingly bright smile that made her duck her head in no small amount of embarrassment. She had honestly hoped to avoid any loud proclamations from Gai before her match. "If it burns even a tenth as great as your passion for your weapons then I have no doubt that you shall succeed! Your opponent will stand no chance!"

"He's loud, Mother doesn't like him." Gaara looked over to the two with nothing in his blue eyes, the Genin from Sunagakure had turned his eyes away from the repairs to the arena and to Gai and Tenten. "Mother will enjoy the silence once I kill him."

"Gaara." Baki did not touch the child that stood with him, his tone did not carry a harsh reprimand either, and he did not look at him. "Focus on your opponent instead of her sensei."

"It doesn't matter who I fight, the one Mother wants isn't here any longer." Gaara looked to where Team 7 once stood. "Mother wants his blood more than anything."

"Wait for the finals then." The authority in his tone was unmistakable.

Both Kankuro and the exhausted Temari looked to Baki with shock at the actual order to the redhead. By the slight widening of his eyes, Gaara seemed to possess the same shock before he slowly closed his eyes. He opened them a moment later and turned towards the steps.

"Mother will be sated. I'll settle for her blood for now." Baki breathed out a sigh of relief at Gaara's words.

'Crisis averted.' His eyes moved to the dark haired Jonin across from the Sand Shinobi, the same Jonin Gaara had spoken about killing, and found him staring at him. 'Or maybe not.' The Jonin did not let his student depart yet, laying a hand on her shoulder when she tried to turn to the steps. His eyes left Baki and the Jonin released a breath he did not know he was holding.

'One of the students of Konoha's Green Beast going up against the weapon? There's no contest here.'

Baki grabbed hold of his trembling hands behind his back.

'There's nothing to be afraid of when I have that weapon here with me.' He closed his single visible eye and masked it as a blink.

"Tenten Ken and Gaara of the Sand are to come to the arena!" Hayate made the official announcement then. Gai still did not release his hold of Tenten's shoulder.

"Gai-sensei, I need to get down there." Brown eyes followed the approach of Gaara to Hayate, the sand that followed him earned her attention. "I've got a fight to win, remember?"

"I…of course." He released his hold on his student. "Good luck Tenten."

"I've got all the luck I need right here." Tenten patted the scrolls on either side of her hips and smiled at her sensei. "Helps that I have a great, and pretty youthful, sensei that helped me get this far too."

'Tenten…' Gai offered a similar smile.

"Such praise from my pupil is enough to make me prouder than I ever thought possible!" Gai closed his eyes as he smiled at her once more. "I am honored to receive such praise from you, Tenten!"

"Yes! Gai-sensei truly is great!" Lee was suddenly next to Gai, smiling just as wide as he gave Tenten two thumbs up. "I am proud to say the same as you my fellow pupil!"

Tenten shook her head at Lee's exuberance before glancing to Neji. She could tell he was awake after only a moment's glance. His face was scrunched up in annoyance at the noise Lee and Gai were making close to him in a way that he could only pull off when he was awake.

"Good luck, Tenten." He proved her right when he spoke up. He opened his eyes and looked at her for only a moment before closing them again and leaning his head back on the wall. "Your fate will be victory against such a defensive fighter like Gaara."

'Alright then.' Tenten didn't bother with the steps, she threw herself over the railing and landed in a crouch not too far from Gaara. 'Neji won his fight and Lee did the same so I can't really lose.' She grinned as she rose up to her feet and began to walk over to her opponent, her eyes roving over him. 'He may be just like his dad, the Kazekage, judging by the gourd he's carrying on his back. I'll have to get through any defense and keep him from getting anytime to try and use his Magnet Release on me.' Her hands fell to the scrolls down at her side. 'I've got plenty of weapons that can't be magnetized if it comes to it too. Even if he does try and magnetize my weapons I have a surprise for him if he brings them in too close.'

"You know, I'm willing to go easy on you if you want." Tenten planted a hand on her hips, fingers above the top of the scroll there, and smirked at the boy she would be fighting. "I've been dying to add weapons unique to Sunagakure to my collection. Depending on what you have to offer, I may go easy on you."

"You're nearly as irritating as your sensei." Gaara's arms remained crossed over his chest and his eyes were half closed as he looked at his opponent. "Mother will be pleased with you gone."

'…What?' Tenten didn't know how to react to Gaara's announcement but she quickly narrowed her eyes. 'I see. He's going to fight to kill. 'Mother' must be how he copes with doing it.' She wanted to curse her luck. 'It looks like I got stuck fighting the psychopath.'

Her eyes glanced to the blonde who had made use of a giant tessen fan.

'Almost wish I could fight her or-' Her eyes almost seemed to sparkle as she took in the Puppeteer from Suna next to her. '-her brother would have been a great match up!'

'I do not like the way she is staring at me.' Kankuro looked away when he caught sight of her staring at him, slightly red in the face. 'I feel like a piece of meat and don't know if I like it or not.'

"Alright, this is the last match so pay attention." Hayate took a moment to cough into his hand, waving away any sand from his face. "The same rules apply no matter what you saw in the last two matches. If you try to kill your opponent, I will intervene. The match goes on until I either call it or someone forfeits. Got it?" He looked to both Genin and received a nod from Tenten, her hands settling on the top of her scrolls. He received no confirmation from Gaara. "Hey, Gaara, you hear me?"

"Stop wasting my time." The sand in the air drew closer to him.

"Tch. Don't go easy on him Tenten." Hayate raised a hand into the air with that comment. "Begin!" He vanished from sight.

Sand ripped free of the gourd on Gaara's back and aimed to skewer Tenten on the sharp and compact end. The Chunin hopeful was already out of the range of Gaara's opening attack and drew out one of her scrolls from the holsters on her sides. She quickly unwrapped it and threw the weapon in her hand forward with blinding speed and pinpoint accuracy.

The short metal staff was stopped without any issue by a tendril of sand. Gaara did not bother with moving his arms at all. Tenten grinned as the metal staff began to hiss and she quickly put more distance between herself and Gaara. Wordlessly the sand holding the metal staff consumed it, warped it until it was a compact metal ball within a floating sphere of sand.

"That's not going to work." Gaara's eyes moved to where Tenten waited far away. "Nothing gets past my sand."

"We'll see about that." Tenten smiled as she formed a familiar hand sign. The same one used multiple times throughout the preliminaries by a multitude of Chunin hopefuls to detonate their explosive tags.

The metal staff exploded but nothing escaped the grip of the sand.

Too many kunai to count flew towards Gaara next, Tenten's hands a blur as they seemed to appear where they needed to from her person. His sand stopped each of the sharp knives launched at him before one strand of sand snapped forward, unleashing a number of sand bullets that ripped into the walls behind Tenten. She had already dodged the barrage of projectiles and another flurry of kunai shot towards the immobile Suna Shinobi from the side as Tenten dashed around him.

Sand once again intercepted her blows but the rapid detonation of explosive tags tied to each kunai threw the sand out, the shockwave of the blast responsible for dispersing it for now. Tenten quickly unsealed a massive shuriken into each hand before throwing them forward, arching in from the sides to strike the still immobile Gaara.

"Not going to work." Gaara still did not move, sand erupted outward and snatched the shuriken out of the air before flinging both into the ground. Tenten didn't let it dampen her spirits, she unrolled a scroll and two weapons flew into her hands that she threw forward.

The twin double sided kunai were instantly stopped, knocked aside by tendrils of sand, before a spear was thrown forward that was crushed by a lashing out tendril of sand. All of them erupted into numerous explosions thanks to the explosive tags on each but the sand simply reacted faster. It was a blur as it wrapped around Gaara, took shape, and hardened.

Tenten seemed to expect as much. She did not react at all to the dome of sand that was already breaking down with its purpose fulfilled. Gaara remained unharmed within and the bun haired girl didn't let it faze her. She threw a barrage of kunai and shuriken forward, blindingly fast and with pinpoint accuracy. Gaara's sand once again stopped any of her projectiles from striking him. She unrolled her scroll once more, holding it spread open in front of her before a trio of massive iron maces erupted forward on chains.

"Those things are massive." The iron balls were each at least twice the size of Tenten and every inch was covered in a deadly spike. Ino's words were almost an understatement as Tenten took hold of the chains of two of the iron maces, one set of massive chain links held in each hand.

One flew directly towards Gaara, striking the guarding sand with an incredible amount of force but not breaking through it. Tenten didn't let anything show on her face before she formed two identical hand signs with her occupied hands. Explosive tags ignited on the side of the two airborne iron maces, sending them forward at greater speed before another explosion sent them swinging inward towards Gaara.

'He has to move now.' Explosions were rapidly going off on both iron maces, sending them to Gaara faster and faster. The one his sand had stopped was easy to trigger as she twisted the chain around one of her already burdened hands by wrapping it around her arm and pulled it free. A spiked end ripped free as hissing came from within the iron mace. 'Once he does, no matter where he ends up going, the surprise from that one is definitely going to catch him off guard.'

The constant explosions from the other iron maces muted the relatively quiet hissing of the one already rendered immobile as Tenten pressed down on the still opened scroll and dropped the chains, an iron shell engulfing her moments later as her own protection. She plugged her ears and waited.

'Three. Two. One.' The iron maces met with a resounding crash before the third exploded, sending shrapnel flying everywhere. Tenten waited a few seconds before dismissing her iron shell and rolling her scroll up and putting it away.

"Did your sand keep you safe from that?" Tenten planted a hand on her hips, smirking at the smoking crater in front of her. Her eyes watched the smoke for any sign of movement. She didn't hear the shifting of sand or even the breathing of her opponent so relied on her eyes. Her ears were unreliable after an attack like that regardless. There was a faint ringing in her ears despite her precautions.

'If he survived that I'll need to use something else to take him down.' Tenten wanted to reach for her scrolls but withheld the urge, instead she waited for any movement from the smoke. She had given herself options with a spear in one hand, a red tassel hanging from it, and a number of shuriken filling her other hand.

"Everything you try is useless." Sand shot out of the smoke with the announcement of the voice. Tenten dodged the initial grab and threw her shuriken forward and turned in the air to throw her spear towards the redhead she fought. It immediately caught on fire, the tassel currently burning away responsible, and the shuriken were easily grabbed out of the air and crushed in the sand that had come after her. She landed on the ground and jumped back onto the wall where her hands fell down to her waist, drawing both her scrolls before she unrolled them by flicking her wrist while she threw her arms out to either side.

They rolled across the wall before coming to a stop but she was already falling, turning to throw a pair of senbon into each end to keep the two scrolls fully extended. She hit the ground in a crouch just as two of the seals were activated on a delayed timer.

A scroll, identical in shape and appearance to the one that contained it, fell out of each and into her awaiting hands right before the other delayed timers went off.

Trained eyes watching the flight of each would say that their numbers were over a thousand weapons, each sealed away into her scrolls. All of them fired forward just as she unsealed another iron dome, hiding from the barrage within it.

'Everything has a limit.' She could hear each of her weapons striking the ground with a clatter, deflected by the shifting sand that protected Gaara from everything she threw at him. 'Everyone has some type of blind spot I can make use of.'

The weapons didn't fire for long, a lengthy barrage of ten seconds before it was over and she sealed the iron shell away once more. A glance at Gaara showed he was completely fine and Tenten drew one of the new scrolls from her side, snapping it open and funneling Chakra to three separate exposed seals as she took hold of the end with her other hand.

Two spheres popped out from the ones on either side of the center one while a stream of fire erupted out of the center. Smoke from the spheres quickly hid her form from sight while the flames continued spewing from the scroll. Gaara still didn't move, his expression didn't change, and his bloodlust wasn't sated.

He decided to change that.

One hand extended forward and balled into a fist.

Sand erupted from out of the ground and the fire stopped when a clawed fist closed around its source.

"No blood." The fist of sand quickly receded, turning harmless as his Chakra left it to be put to better use. "You are getting irritating." The metal staff she had pinned the tag on remained standing despite the pressure of the sand but, with a mere look, a wave of sand quickly crushed the object. "You're going to die for making me waste so much time with you."

Smoke bombs crashed down onto the ground around Gaara, engulfing him in a thick black cloud of acrid smoke. Sand could not protect him from this so he began coughing, doubling over as his coughing became heavier and heavier. He dropped to a knee eventually, still coughing as he failed to move out of the smoke.

'Got him!' Tenten threw dozens of explosive kunai around Gaara, encircling him, before they detonated. She didn't stop there, forming a hand sign and the scrolls pinned to the wall unleashed a number of giant shuriken as well as a short black rod, closer to a baton, that she snatched out of the air. She ripped the wire strings free of it and separated them between her two hands before guiding the shuriken to crash into where she knew Gaara was within the cloud. She dropped off of the wall she had disappeared to and grinned.

"I had to get him that time." She didn't drop her guard regardless. She saw Hayate looking into the smoke and not approaching the arena floor so kept her senses on high alert.

She was well rewarded.

Gaara came stumbling out of the smoke, his eyes watering and still coughing. She didn't charge him and instead threw another hail of shuriken forward followed by an equal number of kunai. She unrolled a scroll and held it out in front of her, unleashing a number of blades ranging from short tanto to long nodachi that all flew towards Gaara. Every move was done without hesitation. She was determined to see him beaten and with overkill at that. To complete her barrage she reached to the other scroll, putting the other one away, and opened it. A black and red sphere was unsealed that she threw forward before a dark rock came to her hand next.

Her weapons were all stopped by a wall of sand, crushing the weapons as they struck and it folded down, but her plan wasn't to strike him this time. She wanted his sand out the way, which it did when it withdrew to encircle him, as the small sphere she had thrown behind the weapons reached him.

"Sometimes, you can't beat the classics." Tenten took brief aim, just as the sphere landed and another dark cloud consumed Gaara, before she threw it forward and dove for cover as she unsealed another iron shell.

The rock hit the ground and skipped, the skipping produced a spark, and Gaara was consumed by a fireball. The sphere was nothing but compacted gunpowder and the rock was flint. It wasn't the first time Tenten had used explosives against Gaara and she quickly emerged from hiding with a new plan involving them next. She held a trio of smaller red and black sphere between the fingers of one hand and another three pieces of flint in her free hand. She threw one into the cloud of smoke and threw the flint forward, causing another blast to widen the newest crater in the arena floor.

'That wasn't enough.' She glanced to Hayate and saw him unmoving.

She threw the second and another piece of flint from her hand.

'That still wasn't enough.' She glanced to Hayate again and he was still unmoving.

She threw the third and the last piece of flint from her hand.

'What is it going to take to win this fight?' Tenten almost wanted to throw her hands up before she drew the scrolls from her side and simply threw them into the air in an arch, unleashing a rain of weapons down onto the already smoke filled crater that she knew Gaara was inside somewhere.

"Are you dead yet!" Tenten shouted those words into the cloud, two more scrolls falling to her feet from the ends of the ones that were now empty of weapons. She crouched down and quickly brought them into her hands while she waited to see if sand would emerge once more.

It did.

It lunged at her with blinding speed and she couldn't entirely avoid it. She put something in its way instead, a massive iron mace just like the three she had used earlier provided cover for her escape. The front of it exploded as well, sending shrapnel flying towards Gaara that a wall of sand consumed before crushing. Tenten landed on a wall behind her before she ran along the walls of the arena, tags marked with a seal coming to her free hand from her scroll that she placed on the walls in roughly even intervals.

Gaara did nothing as she did so, his eyes watched her every moment but his sand remained coiled around him as if it was a snake. He did not try to use his sand to rip her off of the wall before she came to a stop, one entire side of the arena marked with the tags as she moved through hands signs.

"Release!" Water poured out from the tags and turned the wall into a pseudo waterfall, flooding the arena and soaking Gaara's sand. The redhead's eyes actually widened at the act and he moved both hands from his chest, the sand rising but nowhere near as fast as it once did.

'That may work.' Tenten drew her scroll from her side and snapped it open. She unsealed and threw a barrage of kunai forwards towards her target in Gaara. The Suna Shinobi still blocked the barrage but his sand was noticeably slower and Tenten threw another barrage forward as she dashed along the walls of the arena.

His sand followed her, floating in front of him, but it was slower. Her kunai struck and exploded, ripping holes in it that it hastened to close as Gaara looked at them with wide eyes.

'Faster.' Tenten could ignore her exhaustion and aching arms with the exhilaration this breakthrough brought her. Her weapons came faster. The explosions came in rapid succession and blasted away the slower wet sand before Gaara could move it. 'Faster!' She pushed herself faster, throwing the scroll ahead of her where she pinned it with senbon and rapidly unsealed weapon as she neared them before snatching them out of the air. She threw them towards Gaara with pinpoint accuracy and, from where he watched, her sensei smiled.

'You are truly incredible Tenten.' Gai's face carried a small smile of pride as his eyes followed the blur his student quickly became, the streaks of her weapons slowly tearing away Gaara's defenses. The Suna Shinobi seemed to realize this as well.

"You are starting to get on my nerves." He didn't panic, his eyes held a near manic gleam in them, but he did not allow his panic to consume him. Gaara instead crouched down and pressed both hands into the wet sand in front of him. "DIE!"

Sand, dry sand, erupted from the ground around him and shot towards Tenten. She noticed it coming for her and hastily a number of explosive kunai were unsealed from the scroll stretched across the wall. Individual bullets of sand erupted forward before they could do much, tearing the kunai into nothing but metal shards with the ferocity they were fired at so she clapped her hands together. She had a backup plan that she had set up a while ago after all.

The forgotten scrolls, the same two scrolls she had entered the arena with, fired off another hail of weapons. The sand immediately moved to intercept, Gaara making use of the wetter and heavier sand to continue his attack on her as he focused on his defense with the other, lighter and faster. Tenten didn't waste time with checking to see if her attack had worked, she spun a number of kunai in her hands before she threw them up in an arc. Nearly at the same time, she unsealed another scroll from the one currently stretched across the wall and threw it over Gaara without a moment wasted.

A new barrage of weapons erupted downwards in addition to the twin barrage from her other scrolls. Gaara's sand easily formed a dome around him to block the near omnidirectional attack and Tenten grinned as the kunai she had personally thrown struck the ground.

Water once again soaked Gaara's sand but it was more than before, it overflowed across the ground. She unsealed a shuriken and threw it towards the sphere of sand. Predictably, it was stopped.

She unsealed two Lightning Barrels instead and struck them against the wall to prime them. She let them fall to the ground with a grin.

'No matter what type of defense you say you have, I doubt you can stop lightning with the ground so wet.'

Throughout her barrages against Gaara, she had made note of how his sand moved. It couldn't go very far if he couldn't actually see the attack. There was an automatic zone that existed of course, it was what protected him from her projectiles no matter what she did but outside of that zone it as different. If Gaara could not physically see an attack so far away, say coming from a far wall, he could not react in time to stop it. If he didn't see it and it didn't enter the zone that his sand would automatically spring up, the sand would not move to defend him.

The defense was actually much faster than Gaara's own reaction time. It was another thing she picked up during her observations.

The Lightning Barrels struck the ground then. The electricity held within erupted out the moment contact was made.

Gaara screamed as electricity raced through him.

He collapsed against his sand, it breaking away to let him fall to the ground. The boy was trembling after the low voltage strike and Tenten grinned at the weakness in his defense. Electricity was fully capable of harming him it seemed. She just needed to find ways for it to reach him.

She unsealed another Lightning Barrel and banged it on the wall before letting it drop. The electricity was triggered again just as a clawed hand of sand shot across the arena to rip her off of the wall. It fell to harmless sand moments later as Gaara screamed again when the voltage coursed through his body once more. Tenten threw a single shuriken forward and, once it was above Gaara's head, a tag released more water that soaked him.

He tensed, raising himself up on a platform of sand disconnected from the ground.

'Lightning rod.' Tenten unsealed a metal staff to each hand, throwing them forward while tossing another Lightning Barrel towards the ceiling above Gaara and his wet sand. His sand of course took hold of the metal to crush it just as the end Lightning Barrel struck the ceiling and it fired straight down.

Gaara screamed again, the sand beneath him collapsing as Tenten threw a number of explosive kunai below him, opening up a hole for him to fall into before he hit the ground.

'I can hurt him but I don't know how to finish him off yet.' The charge of a Lightning Barrel was too low to rely on to win the fight for her, she needed a better plan. Gaara would be out of the hole she had made in a few moments. She needed a plan before he got out. 'How am I supposed to beat him with his sand blocking everything I do?'

Her mind flashed back to when his attack broke down when he was shocked.

'I could time an attack like that again but I don't want to risk it.' Her accuracy was still perfect but her arms were beginning to ache. 'If I miss, I'll be done for.' She imagined the smear on the wall she would be if she was struck by Gaara's attack then and winced. 'I can't risk that.'

She sighed when her time was up, a dozen clawed hands of sand erupting out of the hole as Gaara's mad eyes locked onto her.

"DIE!" The utter hate, the madness, in his voice was the most emotion he had displayed beyond the pain she had forced him to endure. Tenten quickly released another barrage of weapons from the scrolls hanging on the walls but Gaara's sand arms smashed into them, tearing them free and ripping them to shreds.

'New plan.' Tenten leaped out of the way of another clawed arm, throwing a trio of senbon towards Gaara that were smacked aside by another clawed arm of sand. 'Another new plan.' She reached down to pull a scroll from her side when two grainy hands locked around her wrists. 'New plan, now!' She wanted to scream when the sand began to pull her arms out to the side, the feeling that she would be torn in half swiftly becoming a fear that it would become reality.

The numerous unexploded explosive tags that dotted the arena floor erupted then, a single hand all she needed to detonate them. Gaara avoided any damage in a sphere of sand but Tenten wasn't so lucky. A number of bits of shrapnel struck her where she remained suspended by Gaara's sand arms.

Drops of her blood fell to the sand and a mad smile crossed Gaara's face.

"More." His voice was almost a whisper as he rose his hand up, a number of weapons and sharp jagged fragments collected by arms of sand. Tenten wasn't distracted by pain and so of course struggled in the grip of the sand, more drops of blood falling from minor wounds the shrapnel had managed to give her. She tried to pull her wrists free, slips her hands through the sand, she tried to do anything to allow her to fight more but it was all futile. She could do nothing but wait.

Her explosive tags were her last gambit, a backup plan incase her scrolls were destroyed or she, as unlikely as it was, ran out of weapons.

"This doesn't look good." Lee looked to where Tenten was level with the viewing platform, suspended by Gaara's sand before a number of her own weapons were thrown towards her. She spotted those in front of her coming and twisted her body out of the way of the worse of them, the jagged blades, the maces, the weapons that would kill her. She bit down and let the minor weapons split her skin, allow more of her blood to fall to a slowly growing puddle beneath her.

'Fight through this Tenten.' His student cried out when a large shuriken was raked across her back and split open not only her blouse but her skin as well. The reason Gaara had not thrown the weapon was clear as his crazed eyes followed the blood that fell from her back down to the ground. She made another attempt to free herself, somehow overpower the sand, and the shuriken was brought down her leg and more blood fell to the sand. 'Please Tenten, have another plan.'

"Dammit…" She could only curse herself, a cut opening across her cheek when an inexpertly thrown kunai was narrowly dodged from taking out her eye. "Dammit." She tried to pull her arms inward once more and failed when Gaara's sand turned to something closer to stone. The pressure on her wrists was nearly crushing. A trio of shuriken whizzed past her side, only managing to nick her and open up another trio of cuts. Her mouth was turned into a thin line as the cuts burned but the weight of disappointment burned more.

"Mother wants more of your blood." Gaara brought another group of weapons up to the restrained Kunoichi and her struggles increased when she saw what they were. Gaara's sand spread down her arms then, fully encasing them and spreading further as two other clawed hands grabbed hold of her feet. The sand spread up from there, leaving her trapped with no way of dodging. "I want you to suffer first."

'Gai-sensei…I'm sorry I couldn't win.' The girl hung her head, closing her eyes in defeat.

She could either be crippled by the remains of the massive iron maces she used earlier or forfeit the match.

"Proctor, I f-MMPH!" Sand covered her mouth before Gaara closed his hand into a fist.

It didn't muffle her screams or the crack of bones.

"TENTEN!" The shattered remains of one of her giant iron maces had been used to shatter her collarbone at the same time the sand around her arms compacted with crushing force. The girl's screams weren't muted enough by Gaara's sand to stop her sensei from hearing them and his hands balled into fists. The iron mace returned to do the same to the opposite arm and once again she screamed. Gaara laughed and Gai somehow stopped himself from attacking the Genin below him. He didn't notice how the railing was torn like wet paper by his hands. He turned to Hayate instead with his eyes burning with rage. "Hayate! Stop the match!"

"Enough, you won the match! It's over kid!" Hayate listened to Gai and himself. The moment Tenten had been restrained he had been ready to call the match. When she had begun to voice her forfeit he was ready to come down. Now he wished he had ended it sooner. "Put her down!"

"No." Sand spread across Tenten's body and began to compact with the closing of Gaara's fist. Her struggles to free herself were half what they were before thanks to the pain consuming her more and more every second, sending her down a dark hole she could not escape from. The sand was only hastening the process as it began to slowly compact, slowly crush her body. Her skeleton was becoming a disconnected mess, nothing but jagged fragments and fracture after fracture the longer she remained trapped. "She still needs to suffer before she dies."

The jagged and heavy metal was swung at her again, Gaara aiming for both her legs this time, a maniacal grin splitting his face.

It was shattered to bits by a kick from an enraged Maito Gai. Further kicks that changed the air itself, warped the wind into blades, freed Tenten from the sand binding her and let her fall into her sensei's arms, the Jonin being as mindful of her injuries as he could. His heart broke when he looked at her, eyes capable of seeing so much seeing the extent of the damage done to her by Gaara. He wished he had not trained his eyes so well in that moment, to see the crushed dreams of his student. His eyes burned with his desire for violence but he didn't act on it.

He could have killed the Genin responsible within moments, the Killing Intent he released alone had frozen everyone save for the Hokage. Hiruzen could only look on with pity in his eyes at the sight of Gai holding his broken student in his arms.

In a single moment, Gaara had ended her career as a Shinobi. She couldn't be a bukijutsu expert if her body was so severely broken by his sand. He had all but torn her limbs off, maimed her like a particularly savage animal would have in the wild. A greedy beast caring more for the pain of its prey than the food it should hunt.

"Tenten…I'm sorry for this." Gai bowed his head, Tenten too still in his arms as she slipped from consciousness from the pain she must be in. Her body was nowhere near as broken as her spirit. She knew just as well as the Hokage where she now stood. "I-I-" Gai had no words for once.

He settled for a mournful silence.

"You're not getting away!" Gaara somehow snapped out of his paralysis and his sand shot forward on his command. Gai did not move.

"Stop!" One voice cried out but two bodies moved.

Rock Lee and Neji Hyuga were bitter rivals thanks to their mindsets, one firmly believing in inescapable fate and the other in the results of training and surpassing one's limits, but both were still Tenten's teammates. Both could say with pride, even if one did so rarely, that Maito Gai was their sensei. Both could be unified to hate Gaara for what he had done to her and what he tried to do now.

The Goken and Juken were surprisingly effective when used together. A single kick from Lee was all it took to scatter the front of the sand and a Chakra infused strike from Neji sent the sand plummeting to the ground. The mad eyes of Gaara locked onto each of them but he did not act. He could restrain himself for now.

The Finals would allow him to kill so many after all. The thought of so much blood for Mother let him forget his pain.

"I will not stand for this Gaara of the Sand." Lee's voice was not loud. He didn't need to be with the hate that shined in his eyes delivering his message better than words ever could. He looked to the floor beneath his feet, saw himself reflected in the blood that Gaara had spilled from Tenten with glee.

He crouched down and pressed his fist into it, bowing his head.

'Tenten…'

"On my honor as a ninja of Konoha, on the honor of my teammate, and on the honor of myself I will make you pay for this." Rock Lee did not look up from where he knelt. "For every drop of blood you have split, for the dream you have tried to destroy, for every bone you have broken I will make you pay!" His tears mixed with the blood beneath him and he struck the ground, pulverizing it, splattering blood across his face. "I will kill you or I will die trying!"

* * *

AN: I feel I buffed Tenten a lot but, at the same time, I feel I didn't buff her enough. This was again one of those foregone conclusions since its Gaara she was fighting but I definitely feel Tenten, at least the one I created, was capable of at least hurting him.


	24. The Trials Ahead

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1. I think I'm going to stop putting this in all the time.

AN: The Preliminaries are done! The plot resumes! Or did it ever stop? From a certain standpoint it did and from another standpoint it didn't.

* * *

"You're home early." Yugao Uzuki greeted Hayate Gekko at the door to their shared apartment, the sword wielding Tokubetsu Jonin wordlessly stepping in and wrapping his arms around her. The ANBU did not ask questions, she let him and did the same.

She did not speak, she merely stood there with him like he had done the same with her so many times.

"Hayate-kun, what happened?" The iron smell of blood was heavy on him but he had no wounds.

"I saw a girl get crippled by a psychopath today."

"…I thought it was just a rumor." She tightened her hold on him.

"I saw it happen."

"Who?"

"Gai's student, Tenten Ken. The Kazekage's son did it."

Yugao did not hide her horror at those words. She could easily understand what that would mean.

The Green Beast of Konoha was soon to go on the warpath. He treated all three of his students like his children and for one of them to be crippled, to have her career as a Shinobi ended, he would no doubt be thinking of vengeance.

For all his acting and all his exuberance, Maito Gai was still a human and could hate like anyone else. He no doubt felt hate like he never had before now with his student's career as a Shinobi most likely ended. Who he would take it out on was another question and one she didn't want ever find out.

'I guess we're lucky Kakashi is with him.'

Far away from the two, four Jonin sat at a table. Gai did not look up from his glass, not even to refill it, and Kakashi sat at his side in silence. Neither Asuma or Kurenai wished to speak. None of them could find it in themselves to be very happy with the outcome of the preliminaries.

One of their students had been crippled. He still had yet to know any information on the true extents of her injuries.

Another had been nearly fatally injured. She would be under watch at the hospital as well.

A third would no doubt be having nightmares. She would need therapy from her father.

And the entire team of the last was completely whole. The fact that they emerged unscathed made him want to curse.

"Gai…have you heard anything about Tenten?"

"The doctors fear her injuries are even worse than they originally thought." Those words were spoken with nothing in his voice. If one did not know Maito Gai, they would figure he was one of the numerous broken ANBU that would soon vanish from the village. He was not. He was simply a man locked in despair at his own failings.

"Is there anything they can do for her?" Asuma tried to speak to the Jonin across from him and earned nothing but a blank stare, Gai's dark eyes holding nothing.

"I..." Gai returned his eyes to his drink before downing it in its entirety. He let the glass drop back to the table. "I do not know if she will ever be a ninja again."

"She…" Kurenai didn't know what to say. Her thoughts swiftly turned inward. "I-I should have waited to put my team in. Hinata…she wouldn't be in intensive care right now."

"Another year wouldn't have hurt their chances." Asuma agreed with her, his thoughts on all three of his students. "I should have focused more on their individual strengths and iron out their weaknesses. They were just so good as a team…I figured there was nothing to worry about."

"I fulfilled the promise we all shared a year ago." Gai's voice remained hollow. "I alone am responsible for what happened. I was a poor teacher."

"I was hoping those three would be out of my hair by the end of these exams." Kakashi had somehow downed his drink with no one seeing his mask move. "The faster they become Chunin the sooner I can get my life back to normal."

"You should be proud of your students, Kakashi." Gai refilled his drink. "Their skills are impressive."

"I wish I wasn't their sensei." Kakashi let his head rest in one of his hands, closing his sole visible eye. "Naruto…he's going to cause too many problems to count if he honestly believes he's some kind of conqueror and with Sasuke following him…those two are naturals at combat. One is a genius and the other has Chakra reserves that dwarf most Kage. The one I have any hope for not turning out like another Orochimaru is Sakura but…she's not in the best condition right now."

"What happened to her?" Asuma Sarutobi hated Naruto Uzumaki without question but he didn't hate the girl who he was obsessed with. He could pity the girl that had given up her chance to be Chunin to save his student from going blind. She was trapped on a team with the blonde, watched by him, stalked like prey. If he was able to, if he thought he could do it, he would help her but he had seen the way his father had looked at Naruto. He didn't see the insanity, he didn't see the danger, and he didn't see an enemy.

All he saw was a boy.

Any attempt Asuma made to help her wouldn't get pass the Hokage. He was blind.

"Naruto…he decided to have a talk with her once he left. I sent a Shadow Clone out to find her and it nearly got there too late." Kakashi did not look up to see the looks sent his way by his fellow Jonin, he only silently shook his head. "It's not what you're thinking. He was only talking to her but…this is the same kid who's declared himself some kind of emperor. He didn't exactly empathize with what Sakura was trying to do with my training, what she was trying to show to everyone in the Chunin Exams. My clone listened in, didn't act until it saw him grab her. I don't know exactly what he was planning to do but my Shadow Clone got involved and dropped her off at my place."

"I feel sorry for her." Asuma knocked back the rest of his drink, letting the glass hit the table with a 'thunk'. "She seems like a good kid."

"She is." Kakashi looked at his empty glass, doing nothing to refill it. "She has potential that I still find hard to believe but…she has confidence issues that Naruto isn't helping. Neither is being on a team with someone like Sasuke too. She thinks she's weak, worthless when compared to those two, doubts herself and her own strength. She doesn't believe me when I say she can be great, she can't prove it to herself so she thinks I'm just lying to her to get her to train harder. She doesn't believe me when I say I'm not."

"Hinata was the same for a while." Kurenai looked to Kakashi, the Jonin feeling her eyes on him but not raising his head. "She's so gentle that the Hyuga mocked her for it, called it a weakness and she believed them. She has a little sister that they made her fight. She didn't want to hurt her so instead she let her beat her. They only talked down to her more after that. By the time she finally came to me, she was a mess. She didn't believe she was strong, couldn't manage the confidence to look me in the eye or talk without stuttering. She's skilled, innovative for a Hyuga I expected to adhere to traditions like all the others, and quick to act if she thinks someone's in danger. She's changed recently. She has a crush on your student and, while I disagree with her motivation, she's improved." Despite the current state of her student, she was proud of her and it showed in her voice. "The old Hinata from a few months ago would have let that Puppeteer get in her head and she would have forfeited after everything he said. But the new Hinata? She nearly beat him…" She fell silent. She could remember the blood on the ground, the blood that had stained Hayate's Flak Jacket, and the blood that was her fault.

"Hinata will be okay." Kakashi was the one who spoke his reassurance. "She'll be able to attend the finals at least."

"I'm so glad for that." Kurenai covered half of her face with her hand as she sighed. "I can't wait for her to see your insane student again and let him get in her head even more."

"Maybe Neji will beat him." Kakashi didn't sound hopeful. "Ino can do the same to Sasuke if she has the right plan."

"I'll be sure to tell her you said that." Asuma looked to Gai. "What about your student, Lee, what is he going to do to that Puppeteer?"

"I did not ask him." Gai had downed the contents of his glass before speaking. "I am not fit to instruct him as I am now. He has made a vow to battle Gaara and he intends to do so. I will say this if nothing else, Rock Lee is one who honors his word, if he promises to do something nothing shall stop him. It is his Ninja Way to overcome all obstacles that are placed before him. If he cannot summit them, he will find a greater challenge to undertake and surpass his limits to do so." He paused. His eyes became dark. "I would not wish to be the Puppeteer in his way."

"That…kid is going to fight your student, right?" The bearded Jonin turned to Kurenai and she gave him a shaky nod. She quickly knocked down the rest of her glass, refilling it, and doing the same. He laid a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Aburame are a tricky bunch when they have so much time to prepare."

"You're not worried about Shikamaru? He's fighting his sister." Kakashi only received a halfhearted laugh from the Jonin across from him.

"She doesn't stand a chance against Shikamaru." Asuma spoke his words with such conviction that he earned the eyes of each of the Jonin there. None of them questioned his statement but they didn't agree with it as wholeheartedly as he did. "He's going to become a Chunin. Trust me."

"Confidence almost doesn't suit you." Kurenai leaned her head against his shoulder.

"It is good to have it." Gai looked at his refilled glass for a moment before pushing it away. "I am going to go visit Tenten."

"I'll go with you." Kakashi was already rising, stepping out of the booth. "I'll even race you." He laid on hand on Gai's shoulder, the shifts in his mask showing he was smiling.

"…I think I am up to a race." Gai offered his own much more visible, if small, smile in response as he laid his hand on the opposite shoulder. "We have not had one in quite a while."

The two paid their part of the bill before leaving out the door. Kurenai and Asuma watched them leave before the bearded Jonin pushed away his drink, Kurenai's breathing steady as she rested on his shoulder.

"Those two are more like brothers than best friends." The red eyed Jonin's words were met with a small smile from Asuma.

"Yeah, they are."

The two Jonin were content to spend the rest of their time that night together. They would eventually leave but that was hours from now.

In the hospital, Naruto Uzumaki stood in a simple room. His Legate barred the door along with his Praetorians. None were to enter the room until he had left, his orders were clear.

"Your showing was admirable Tenten." He did not reach out to touch her or offer comforting words. "Your defeat spoke nearly as much as victory would have, if not more." Blue eyes looked into blurry brown, the amount of medication in her system making it a herculean effort to keep her eyes open. Taking in all of Naruto's words were an equal feat but she was a student of Maito Gai, she set out to break her limits everyday she trained. "I have heard of your plight." His eyes moved away from her own, looking to where her limbs had been rendered immobile by the hospital staff that held little hope for her. Her entire body was bandaged after the hospital had learned of the full extent of the damage. "Know that hearing such words pain me as I had great plans for you, plans I see no reason to see rendered nothing but a dream."

His centurions, for whatever reason, enjoyed the company of the older Genin. He did not know why but he did not need a reason. Just as the Legate was present to be a source of hate, a lightning rod in some sense, she was necessary as a companion.

Their devotion to her had made it a difficulty to calm down a majority of them calling for blood from Suna. He wished this had all happened at a later date in time, where the fury of the Orange Legion he commanded would be well known, but it was not to be. It had happened when few even truly knew of his might, knew of the strength of his Legion, the glory of his Empire. Sunagakure, the Land of Wind, would be another conquest in the end but it could not happen now. His Praetorians currently kept order through force. They sparred and they spoke with the men of his Legion, with his Centurions. He had instructed them to channel their aggression into tasks that would lead to the inevitable conquests of Sunagakure. He had feared they wouldn't listen to him, that the centurions would march their men out to battle, but they had.

He would never admit it to anyone but he doubted even the Praetorians, his most loyal soldiers, could remain apathetic as he wished for them to be. It was truly his first time looking upon the girl named Tenten and he could see why his centurions, why his entire Legion it seemed, could find enjoyment in her company.

It was not her beauty, nothing could compare to Sakura-chan, but it was the look in her eyes. Knowledge, passion, hardships, triumph, and, burning above the others now, the likes of sorrow and despair. All this and more burned within them with an intensity he had rarely seen. A man like Kaiza could possess the same but never for long, Tazuna at times as well from the story a centurion told him, and even Silver Fang's eyes could possess such intensity. Passion burned in bright blue oceans, desire, a thirst for conquest, and more needed for a conqueror shined in his own.

Tenten had flames like no other in her eyes. She was truly someone that deserved admiration for those he set as commanders of his glorious Legion, devotion from those who would be responsible for the soon to be world renowned might of his magnificent Uzumaki Empire.

"I will not see your career end here." Naruto fell to a knee at her bedside, one of his arms crossing over his chest, his fist closed tightly over his heart, and the other fell to the hilt of his blade. "I will not see the fire in your eyes dim. I will not allow anything of the like." His voice was steady but the promise in it was clear. "You will not be forced to become a girl who may only dream of what the future could be, you will not be given a fate so unworthy of one such as yourself."

He drew his blade, steel singing through the air before he plunged it into the ground before him.

"You will take your place within my glorious Legion, become a pillar of the might of my Legion, this I swear." Blue eyes shined with conviction, with absolute certainty. "I do not care what I must do, what price I will pay, you will not be rendered to such a state for longer than it takes. I will not allow such a thing."

"Tenten Ken, on my word as Caesar, you will be healed."

Outside the window, two Jonin renowned for their strength and skill set together in silence, listening to Naruto's proclamation, his promise. Kakashi did not know whether to sigh or not. Naruto, for once, seemed to not want to declare he was conquering something. From the way it sounded to him, he honestly cared for Tenten. Why? He had absolutely no idea. He would most likely need to read dozens of ANBU reports to even begin to understand the why of any action taken by Naruto Uzumaki.

Regardless of why he was doing it, the masked Jonin knew the Genin, the most likely future Chunin and more, was not one to make proclamations like that lightly. He had no doubt in his mind that the Uzumaki would manage to make good on his promise and, when that day came, he only worried how indebted Gai would feel to his psychotic student.

'Why couldn't you be like you were before that night?' Kakashi wanted to speak out loud but didn't need to be detected. Already, it was more of a struggle than it honestly should be to remain hidden from the clones Naruto made use of. They watched the room from afar and he had been rather busy using Genjutsu on them from this range.

He wasn't called a prodigy for nothing through. He was very much capable of it.

His sole visible eye turned to Gai, the Taijutsu master's eyes locking with his own.

 _We need to talk. Now_. The message was silently conveyed.

 _Of course._ He couldn't disagree even if he wanted to.

Without a single word, the two vanished without a sound.

"Caesar." Sasuke's voice called from outside the room, knocking echoing from the door moments later. The Caesar turned away from the bed Tenten laid in, returned his sword to his side, and left the room without another word.

"What necessitates my presence, Legate?" Naruto looked into the red and black eyes of the Sharingan without concern.

"I have something you will be interested in." In his hands he held a scroll that he extended to Naruto. He no doubt had it given to him by the centurion currently on a knee before him, his head bowed and his fist over his heart. "Written inside are the matches of the finals of the Chunin Exams in a month's time."

"You know me too well Legate." Naruto broke the seal, a simple swirl bearing the emblem 'I' on it drawing his attention in a curiously raised eyebrow before his eyes turned to the Legate. "The First Cohort reported on this? Why delegate such a task to some of my most veteran fighters? Why not enlist another more suited for such a role?"

"Yes, the First Cohort is responsible for this. They and your Praetorians remain the most abundant of your forces so close to the village and trusted to move information such as this with all due haste. Additional information, such as the matches, individual profiles, and anything else deemed useful, will be awaiting your review within the renovated Uchiha district." Sasuke held another scroll in his hand as the centurion rose once Naruto laid a hand on his shoulder. "Within this scroll is far more sensitive information from a group of your Praetorians, they are stationed close to Kikyo Castle, where the foreign Shinobi are to stay."

"What use is this information to me?" Naruto did not accept the scroll, the centurion fell into step behind the Uzumaki on his other side with the Legate of the Orange Legion on the opposite. "I do not see any reason to concern myself with the living quarters of my enemies."

"The living quarters are of no use to you Praetor, the Praetorians discovered something intriguing concerning the one responsible for Tenten's injuries." The centurions spoke up from Naruto's other side, the rows of Praetorians standing against the walls forming twin ranks as the three passed. "He is-"

"I do not care." Naruto paused mid-step, the two leading officers of his forces quickly coming to a halt and their fists rose to cover their heart as they bowed their heads. "Praetorians, do not leave Tenten unguarded. She is to be in your sight at all times." Naruto's order gained a silent nod from the Praetorians as they turned back to the room and silently spread down the hall. The blonde Uzumaki did not spend much time in the hall, he continued on his way with the centurion and Legate swiftly following him once more.

Neither of the two commented on the monumental act or the reasoning behind it.

'You must have made Praetor very angry, Sakura-chan.' The centurion did not let anything show on his face as he followed after the man identical to him yet so different at the same time. 'Why do you not accept Praetor's devotion, why spurn him and allow your beauty to be hoarded away by one as uncouth and underserving as Silver Fang?'

Naruto passed by the hospital staff hidden from his presence, terrified of the blonde after he had entered the building. His Praetorians guarding the lobby did nothing to bring an end to the terror, their presence truly only added to it.

"Naruto Uzumaki." A brown haired ANBU stood in the lobby regardless of the palpable fear of the hospital staff. His arms rested at his side and his mask firmly in place. "The Hokage will have you present yourself to him in his office tomorrow morning."

Nothing else was spoken, the ANBU vanishing before any word could be said in return.

"Legate."

"Yes Caesar?"

"I want to know who that was."

Such disrespect would not be tolerated.

"Of course." Sasuke's Sharingan seemed to shine with some unmistakable amusement. "Will you be appearing before the Hokage? You have already told me of your plans for tomorrow. This will interfere in them."

"I, as a loyal Konoha Shinobi, am always ready to meet Sarutobi-jiji." Naruto grinned as he spoke, his blue eyes becoming dark as the trio began their march from the hospital once more, Praetorians escorting them through the streets and towards the Uchiha district. "Have the area scouted before my arrival."

"It shall be done." The centurion vanished from his side without wasting another moment away from his new duty. A hundred of the Orange Legion's soldiers would be responsible for insuring the safety of the one who would lead the Uzumaki Empire to heights surpassing all others, rendering them but pale imitations of what it would become when guided by such a man as Caesar.

Far away from the Uzumaki, the Hokage and another man looked down at the crystal ball that observed the blonde. One shined with almost amusement at what they had seen while another was dull, the events of today making him numb. The depths of the crystal ball grew clear dark as the image of the blonde's face faded from it.

Silence filled the office, the only two occupants not speaking to one another at all. There were only two, not even the ANBU remained with the presence of the Hokage's visitor rendering their presence worthless.

"So, that's his kid then?"

"Yes."

"I don't know what you're so worried about old man, he seems fine."

"Just observe him for a moment, you'll understand why I'm so worried by the start of the finals."

"If you're really so worried, let's drink the night away."

"A shared drink with my old student after all his time away 'researching'? I feel honored."

"You should, not many people can say they drank with the Toad Sage."

"It's probably too many, you lightweight."

"What was that? Bring it on sensei, I'll drink you under the table!"

* * *

AN: Who is Hiruzen drinking with? Is it obvious? Beyond the obviousness of who's going to show up soon, overall opinion of the immediate aftermath so far?


	25. A Time to Talk!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1. You know what? I kind of feel attached t it for whatever reason.

* * *

Kakashi did not want to enter his apartment. It was far from the first time the Jonin had wanted to go nearly anywhere else but his residence but he couldn't. His student, his only true student, was within and they needed to talk.

Now.

All he had to do was turn the doorknob.

Just turn the doorknob.

Reach out. Grab. Turn.

He just needed to go inside and talk with a girl who felt she was worthless thanks to her teammates. He needed to tell her she was strong, she was stronger than them. All he needed to do was talk to her and the words would come out.

"Don't be a coward." A life as a Shinobi made sure his voice was as quiet as the wind. "She's hardly even a teenager. What is there to worry about?"

His mind was running a thousand miles a minute with those words. He couldn't begin to understand any of it.

However unlikely it was, Naruto's Legion could have broken into his apartment, Sakura could had left hours ago, she could had been attacked by the psychotic Genin from Sunagakure, and more. His apartment could had been rigged by an invading force, the traps could have triggered and killed her. He could be walking into an ambush and they would use her as a bargaining chip. The Hokage could had even instructed the ANBU Black Ops to take her out.

The girl was intelligent, smart enough to know exactly how loyal the Orange Legion were and how devoted they were to her. She could command a force equal to Naruto's own.

'And one of his Cohorts cleared a way through the Forest of Death.' The infamous hazards of Training Ground Forty-Four were well-known to all Konoha Shinobi but Team 7 had passed through the entire exams unscathed. Naruto had unleashed a part of his army, the banners identified them as the Fifth Cohort if his shouting hadn't already keyed everyone in, and the three had moved forward with the clones surrounding them and moving ahead.

It had taken Naruto less than an hour to get the two scrolls he needed. His and his teammates walk to the tower took three days.

"No." His voice was loud to his ears in the empty hallway, forcing himself to shake away the paranoia of living as a Shinobi by turning his head from side to side, bringing a single hand up to rub at his temple. "I can't get distracted like that."

'I need to help her.'

With those words in mind, Kakashi opened the door to his apartment. His foot hit a piece of Sakura's armor and sent it clattering across the floor.

"Sakura." His voice was low but still carried across the apartment, empty of much besides the necessities. "Sakura, we need to talk." His single visible eye took note of the other pieces of armor that laid on the floor, he crouched down to pick up one of her bracers and examined it in his hands.

A deep scratch was carved vertically down the armor.

'Kunai.' His eyes knew the mark of a kunai too well. 'What are you doing Sakura?'

He discovered another piece, one of the greaves she had worn, and more scratches ruined the surface of the metal and the design on it, the same design that carried over the armor of her Blossom Guard. A glance past it saw more pieces of her armor, torn off it looked like from the straps of leather dotting the ground. Most of the breastplate seemed to have been torn off, thrown near a doorway to a room he didn't use.

It was supposed to be for guests.

"Sakura!" His voice was louder as he approached the closed door. "Sakura, are you in there?" Panic wasn't in his voice. It was too controlled for that. He couldn't let panic take over. He couldn't let his mind visualize whatever horrors it could create. He couldn't imagine a corpse.

He focused on the door. He heard no words, no reply. He strained his ears, listened for any sounds that would show if someone was inside, and, faintly, he at last heard a sound.

Soft crying.

"Sakura." Kakashi rapped his knuckles on the door, knowing better than to intrude on the girl inside. "Sakura, please, I want to talk to you."

He heard no answer. The crying was stifled, Kakashi sighing from where he stood outside the door once he heard it. He shouldn't be relieved but he was. She was just upset. He could help her. He just needed to open the door.

He took hold of the doorknob.

His mind at last won.

Blood was on the floor. The still form of a man he should have respected, loved, was almost wrapped by it. The only warmth he could gain was through the spilling of his own blood. It was his fault. He had done this. He was the one who held the blade darkened to crimson.

His fault.

His fault.

His fault.

Hi-

'No.' He tossed away those memories. He was a man now. He wasn't a child. He didn't come home to see his father dead on the floor. This was nothing like that. Nothing like that at all.

He opened the door.

He found her sitting on the floor, the armor she wore, for the most part, torn away and all the pieces he had yet to find outside the room were strewn across it. She must had thrown them at the walls from where they were placed in front of her. His eye took in the open dresser and was glad that this wouldn't be made anymore awkward with his student naked.

'One crisis averted.' He had to look on the bright side for once. He stepped into the room and closed the door, walking over to the pink haired Genin and dropping onto the floor next to him. She didn't move her head from where she rested her forehead against her knees. 'Now, let's see if I can solve this one.'

He wanted to wrap an arm around her shoulders but instead it limply hung in the air. Eventually it returned to his side.

"Things…things didn't turn out like I hoped today." Kakashi's voice filled the silence of the room. Sakura did not look at him but he hoped she at least listened. "Things haven't gone the way I've wanted them to since I was stuck with three Academy students."

"One of them was…I thought I was going to be dealing with the class idiot but I was wrong. The one I thought would be the easiest to fail turned out to not only learn a Kinjutsu but create an entirely new one that puts the one he learned to shame, something I never thought would happen. I thought he would be easy to beat, just put him in the ground and go find the other two, but then he pulled an army out. Ever since then, ever since I've met that kid, I've wanted to get rid of him. Not kill him, just get him out of my hair before he causes a war."

"The next one was one I thought would be easy to teach. A prodigy, a genius, and top of his class, I figured it would be easy to deal with him. Then he joined the other one. He started to cause nearly as many problems as the other one because he's commanding the same army. I never thought I would see the class idiot get a genius like him to listen to his every word but I guess I was wrong. Now he's some loyal bodyguard or commander, I don't know which and just want him gone too."

"And, lastly, there's the only sane one in this little group. The only girl too. She's not declaring herself leader of some army or acting as if she's the greatest woman to ever live, she's normal. She has doubt in herself, she wants to improve herself, and she wants to show that she's not what everyone thinks she is. She wants to be a strong Kunoichi and is the only tolerable one of the bunch. Of course I wanted to fail her too. She reminds me of a girl I knew too much, a girl I let die…I couldn't stand to let that happen again."

He didn't know if she was paying attention to him or not, he was hardly listening to the words he spoke anymore.

"I wanted to fail all three of those kids but somehow they passed. Now I'm stuck with two I can't stand and one that has amazing potential. She just doesn't believe she does, she thinks because of how strong the other two are that she's weak. She doesn't understand that they're already close to their peak when she's nowhere near hers. She has more intelligence than the genius, more passion for what she's doing than the kid with the army, and she's going to become great no matter what she thinks about herself."

He looked down at the floor, his single eye not seeing anything any longer.

"She'll definitely become better than her failure of a sensei."

He didn't know why he was still talking, why he had even talked at all. How was someone like him supposed to help her? How was someone who was hailed as a genius, as a prodigy, as a Shinobi deserving of the title Hokage, supposed to help a girl who thought she was weak, a girl who thought that she wasn't meant to be a Shinobi, a girl who thought that she should give up such a life? How was someone who possessed talent so naturally supposed to help a girl who had no idea of her own potential?

"…I don't think you're a failure." His head snapped towards Sakura, catching a flicker of green eyes before they were gone, directed towards the floor like his own once were. "You're stronger than me…smarter than me…people are always talking about how you could be Hokage if you wanted to. But me?" A bitter smile crossed her face. "I'm…Naruto made it clear what I am…"

"Don't believe a word he said, he's nothing but an egotistic brat."

"Even if he is…he told me about his match…" Sakura's eyes watered. "All the time you've spent with me, all the training, it was all worthless when I'm compared to those two. The two from Otogakure, Kin and Zaku, didn't stand a chance of beating them. Sasuke knows the type of Ninjutsu than I can never hope to learn, Naruto is probably the strongest Genin in the exams, and…I'm sorry that I couldn't make the time you wasted with me matter. I thought I could pass the exams but…"

She couldn't finish. Defeat came with every word she spoke but it would be nothing compared to what she would feel if she spoke those words.

She couldn't admit that Naruto was telling the truth about her. If she did, it would break her entirely. Shatter her into a million pieces that could never come back together again.

"I won't blame you for what happened, I would never dream of doing something like that." Kakashi thought back on the short battle Sakura managed to have with Ino before Naruto's interruption ruined what should had been her crowning moment. The moment she should had realized she was stronger than she thought was turned into nothing but another poisonous thought on how weak she was thanks to the Uzumaki. The Jonin could almost hate him for it. "Your fight with Ino, no matter how short it was before he got involved, was incredible. The heiress of Konoha's Yamanaka Clan was about to use her Clan's infamous technique and I knew you had a way of countering it."

"I didn't come up with anything impressive…" Kakashi had actually been lying then, hoping to impart some confidence onto his student. His single visible eye widening at the revelation went unseen by Sakura. "The Yamanaka in general never thought to fix the speed of the technique or aiming so I was going to use the Clone Technique and move with it, once I sensed that Ino left her body I would dodge out of the way and grab her before she could make it back and force her to give up."

'Good plan.' His only concern for her would have to be her speed. Ino was a novice with the technique obviously but the technique was rather fast even for someone at her level. 'There's ways to improve it obviously but a good base to build on.'

"I know it was nothing impressive but I didn't have time to do anything else…Ino would had caught on if I let her hit me with it."

'Let her?' Kakashi didn't verbalize his question but he did eye Sakura a bit more closely now. '…I wonder just how you compare to that Nara boy, Sakura.'

"You're just proving my point." He laid a hand on her back, drawing himself closer to her. "We'll train some more starting tomorrow morning. Until then, come with me and let's both get some rest."

"Alright, Kakashi-sensei."

Her voice didn't have the confidence he wanted her to have but he would deal with giving her the necessary boost she needed later. For tonight, he would be fine with how things were.

He stood up, picking her up with him to no complaints, and carried her out of the dusty guestroom.

She could get a better night's sleep in his bed and he could sleep somewhere else. The couch maybe? He wasn't certain if he even owned a couch but he would manage.

Close by to the apartment, an ANBU agent listened to the entire conversation. Once she was sure it was over with, she stopped channeling Chakra to her ear and withheld a wince at the familiar lance of pain the end of the technique caused.

"You're spying on people again, aren't you Yugao?" An arm wrapped around her waist in bed and she turned to Hayate with a smile.

"Don't worry yourself about any of that, Hayate-kun." Her eyes were the blank pits all ANBU Black Ops possessed. The Tokubetsu Jonin had long since grown used to seeing nothing in his lover's eyes. No matter the circumstance, her eyes revealed nothing to anyone. "Besides, you've had a long day so just relax."

One hand reached up, running through his short brown hair before a hand took hold of hers.

"It wasn't long enough for me to ignore what you've been doing." The Kenjutsu master looked to the wall her focus had been on. "I know about that long standing mission of yours and I know about your new one. Don't bother hiding things like that from me when you make them so obvious."

The purple haired ANBU had the decency to blush as, in retrospect, she was being quite obvious about what she was doing. She could've handled her newest mission far better than she already had.

She still tried to smile, to show disregard for Hayate's comments.

"You're too paranoid sometimes." She turned away.

"Just…forget it." He turned away from her and fell silent.

Silence was not uncommon for Yugao Uzuki but this one was stifling. She wanted to turn around, embrace her lower, but she did not. She remained facing the wall.

The two slept together but separate.

* * *

AN: Ah, Kakashi is somewhat enjoyable to write. Any opinions on Kakashi and Sakura's relationship?


	26. Introducing: Jiraiya the Toad Sage!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1. Yep, it's official, I feel like this thing is a true part of the story now.

* * *

Dawn came and blue eyes looked out as light watched over the village he had once known as home from the top of his tower. A number of Praetorians had stood around him in the night but he had dismissed them without words. He, at times, needed complete solitude from all others. He was not covered by his armor or even kept a sword on his person, he stood without worry of foes so high. He was enclosed within a territory that was his and his alone after all. A Caesar had nothing to fear within his own lands, nothing could exist within them that could hurt him. He was dressed only in light clothes, finely made as his title deserved, and his eyes focused on one of the banners raised below him and standing proudly on a rooftop.

It was nothing but a silhouette with the light striking it from behind but he had long ago memorized his banner, the symbol of the Uzumaki Empire proudly emblazoned on the cloth.

'This light…it speaks to me.' His blue orbs were hidden from the world as he let his eyes drift close. 'I have seen it so many times before but never like this.' It seemed to whisper a promise to him, sweet things that had driven too many to damnation through its hollow words. He was a Caesar through and knew the truth. What it spoke of was nothing to pursue, nothing to dream of, and nothing to hold dear and close to one's heart. It would only end in a single way. It always did. He scoffed as his eyes snapped open. 'What a pathetic thing...the hope this foolish light brings.'

He did not see a home beneath him, he did not see a place he should be loyal too. All he saw among the horde of weaklings that called it home, the great towers of strength sunken to a pale imitation of where they had once stood and touched the heavens themselves thanks to the collected trash around them, and the utter bile that was the perverse doctrine of teamwork that had taken hold of all the Shinobi travelling the rooftops below him was something to burn.

All he saw was a place unfitting to join his glorious Uzumaki Empire in its present form. It would be nothing but the source of a plague of weakness.

"Such weakness…" He raised a hand from his side, sweeping back his blonde hair as he turned away from the sunlight that promised so much to fools. "I will see it destroyed one day." Hope was not a thing that could be allowed within his Empire. Hope would only lead to folly, lead to defeat, and lead to pointless death.

Such a thing as hope could not sully the greatness of his Uzumaki Empire.

He entered his tower. He had a meeting with Hiruzen Sarutobi soon and would need to depart soon.

Twenty of his Praetorians stood in twin rows across from each other, forming an aisle before the door. They had assembled during the night and remained at the exit to his nearly completed tower up to now, Naruto adjusted the armored bracer on his arm as the door was opened for him by four Praetorians moving each of the solid doors. In front of the gathered Praetorians stood both a centurion and the Legate of his glorious Orange Legion.

"Legate, I did not know you could rise so early." Naruto spoke with a grin as he came to a stop, the two high ranking members of his Legion saluting him with their heads bowed and a fist over their armored heart. The men of the Legion standing with the two dropped to a knee with a clenched fist over their hearts as he passed by them. "What business brings you to see me off?"

"None Caesar." The Legate of his Legion rose his head. "I simply wish to see you off. I only wish that you would allow me to accompany you to such a meeting."

"I require you here. Many things must still be overseen in my absence and I do not know how long it shall last." Naruto rested a hand on the hilt of his blade, the other reaching out to Sasuke's shoulder. "You are the only one who sees my vison so clearly to oversee the journey my Legion must take to reach it."

"You honor me with words such as those, Caesar." Sasuke fell to a knee, bowing his head. "I shall not sully such a thing by failing you."

"I know you will not." Naruto turned piercing blue eyes towards the centurion that stood waiting for his departure. "Centurion, how goes your preparations?"

"They have been completed to the highest of satisfactions, Caesar." The centurion joined the Legate of the Orange Legion on a single knee, bowing his head towards Naruto. "I will stake my life on it even."

"I am glad you possess such confidence." Naruto stepped past both, both turning and rising back to their feet as he did so. "Let us depart."

"Of course." Naruto came to a stop as the centurion turned he gathered men of the Legion.

"CAESAR IS DEPARTING, PRESENT YOURSELVES!"

"HOO!"

As one, the soldiers of his Legion rose. As one, they placed their helmets on. As one, they began marching inward. As one, they stopped and turned to face the centurion.

Naruto could not help but grin at the sight.

"This is a wonderful sight."

"Indeed it is caesar."

"Before I forget Legate, send word to the centurions of the Fifth Cohort. Their time in the village is over and their time spread across Land of Fire has at last begun."

"I have no doubt such news will be cause enough for celebration. Do you wish anything else of me Praetor?"

"Nothing I desire is as pressing as the movement of the Fifth. See to it with all due haste."

"Then allow me to open the way for you Praetor."

'I truly have begun to wonder what you wish to see me about, Sarutobi.' Naruto looked to the Legate of his Orange Legion as he ordered the gates open. 'What has caused you to waste the time of a Caesar like myself with a meeting with you?'

Naruto would not dwell on these thoughts as he left the Uchiha district. He would not dwell on these thoughts as he walked away and towards the Hokage Tower quite the distance away with the centurion at his side and his Praetorians marching behind him. He did not dwell on them even as he reached the tower and ordered his Praetorians to remain outside. He did not dwell on such thoughts as he dismissed the centurion that had followed at his side to depart to his century.

He only allowed them to enter his mind once more as he entered the office under the hidden gaze of two masked ANBU Black Ops agents stationed at the door.

"You wished to see me, Sarutobi-jiji." Naruto stood within the office of the Hokage, alone with none of his soldiers at his side. On the other hand, Hiruzen Sarutobi had Shikaku Nara in the office with him but the sight of the Nara was not uncommon with his multitude of duties related to the Shinobi Forces of Konoha and the dozens of duties he held as one of the Hokage's right hand men. The aged Hokage smoking behind his desk and Shikaku leaning against the wall across from the door with his eyes closed, his breathing nearly unnoticeable to even the trained eye, was not an uncommon sight among the Shinobi of Konoha.

The Nara had fallen asleep standing up. Sadly, it wasn't uncommon either.

Shikaku Nara's capability to fall asleep nearly anywhere was well-known and, in the case of some members of his clan, envied.

"Yes…" The Hokage paused, taking a long drag of his pipe before he continued, blowing out the smoke as he did so. "I have wished to speak with you for quite some time but never found the chance until now."

"I, as a loyal Shinobi, am always at the ready to answer the will of the Hokage." Naruto gave a deep bow, his blue eyes shining with something Hiruzen did not want to identify.

He had seen it in the eyes of too many of the long deceased, their life taken by his own hands, the same ones who had tried to stab him in the back when he had shown them mercy instead of taking the easy route, being cruel like all others. If he did not think on it, if he did not reflect in quiet moments on the look in the eyes of the boy in front of him, he would not have to give an order that would truly haunt him. He would not be driven to an early grave with a broken heart.

So he ignored it, he ignored the way Naruto's eyes flashed with a dry amusement as he rose back to his full height, he ignored the burning depths of those eyes that he didn't want to dwell into, and he ignored the way that the boy he had known for years was growing farther and farther away with every minute of every day.

"I am glad for that." Hiruzen took another moment to enjoy the smoke of his pipe before he exhaled once more. "I must admit, I am very proud of your recent accomplishment, advancing so far in this year's Chunin Exams, facing a quality of contenders for the rank of Chunin I have not seen in quite some time. I find that I must congratulate you on coming so far already."

"I aim to achieve the rank of Chunin once the finals are over with." Naruto was not speaking with confidence, he only spoke with an absolute certainty befitting of a Caesar. "I will accept nothing less from myself."

"You certainly are confident Naruto-kun." Hiruzen could only chuckle as he removed his pipe from his mouth, setting it down upright on his desk. "Forgive me but I have to say this, I never expected you to advance this far so quickly. Many stay Genin for years before taking part in the Chunin Exams yet you have hardly been one for even a fragment of a year before you decided to take part in such trials."

"As I said before Sarutobi-jiji, I will accept nothing less from myself but excellence." Naruto's eyes flashed to where Shikaku leaned on the wall, his breathing changed even if his stance had not. "A Caesar cannot abide by such low standards, those who lie under his banner will find themselves questioning him and if they question they shall soon doubt." His eyes flashed, a darkness appearing within their blue depths. "Doubt will lead to insurrection and I will not be able to control my more…baser urges if one was to commit such a grave crime against myself and my Empire. My Legion would fail to withhold themselves as well, against such filth they will see no reason to I imagine." The darkness was gone. "I must hold myself to such high standards to maintain civility amongst the inhabitants of my lands Sarutobi-jiji. I'm sure you understand that."

"That is quite something Naruto, quite something indeed." Hiruzen did not sigh at the words that he wished he did not hear. He merely accepted them. "Now, I wish to move on to the reason I asked you to come to my office this day…a reason I believe you will no doubt be very interested in."

"Is it about the Toad Sage?" Naruto's question did not provoke a reaction from the aged Hokage that heard it. The eyes of the Nara snapped open through.

'I guess you do have people watching this building then.' Shikaku glanced out the window, his eyes searching for something he knew he would not find. That would be the job of the ANBU Black Ops, he already had a dozen in mind for such a task. Three of them were currently occupied elsewhere. Four would need to be taken off leave. One would need to be removed from another, less important, duty. The other four he had in mind were currently being debriefed by Ibiki and would be busy for the next several hours. 'We'll need to fix that.' His eyes turned back to Naruto.

"I'm not very surprised you know that Naruto-kun." Hiruzen fought down the desire to smile as he slowly rose from his seat. "I find that you don't surprise me very much anymore after you managed to learn a thing as complex as the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique in not even a night. I once thought you would never master the simple Clone Technique taught at the Academy but you surpassed that without issue with a technique like that. A Kinjutsu most could never dream of using, you have mastered."

"I am almost disappointed I have shown you so much of my genius Sarutobi-jiji, I aimed to astound you with my accomplishments at least once more." Naruto grinned as the Hokage moved around the desk and stood in front of him.

"Yes, I'm afraid that opportunity has long since passed." Hiruzen's mind went to the conquest of Nami no Kuni. "I suppose there's no point keeping you in suspense any longer."

The aged Hokage folded his hands behind his back and, instantly, a presence filled the office.

"Yes, I see it now." The man known as the Toad Sage stood with his arms folded across his chest, his eyes taking in the blonde in front of him as he stood next to the Hokage. "Yes, I definitely see what's so special about this kid now." A smile came across his face as the smoke wafted to the outer edges of the room. "You, Naruto Uzumaki, deserve to be my student."

"Really?" Naruto matched his grin as he looked at the Toad Sage, his eyes moving up and down his form. "I'm not so sure you deserve to be the teacher of one such as myself." His eyes looked up to Jiraiya and they were not amused. "I do not see any worth in such a thing."

"Ah, I see, the awe of my presence, seeing such a legendary figure like myself with your own eyes, has rendered you dumbfounded." Jiraiya chuckled as he met Naruto's unmoving stare with his own. "You, in your awe of meeting one such as myself, must have forgotten the countless feats I have performed from surviving an encounter with the legendary Hanzo the Salamander as a young man to learning from the toads of Mount Myoboku to gaining the epithet the Toad Sage for my tremendous skills! You must not know of my countless travels, my experiences across the Elemental Nations that were only trials that grew my strength and sharpened my mind." Jiraiya looked down on Naruto in more ways than one. "You must fail to understand just how lucky you are to get a teacher like me because your brain's been fried from my magnificent presence."

"What can you honestly teach me then, Jiraiya the Toad Sage?" Naruto spoke a title without respect, without awe, and without anything in his voice accept boredom.

"We have a month, let's find out." Jiraiya did not turn away from the eyes of a child. He saw a fire in them that made him excited more than anything.

'I don't see what's got the old man so worried about what you're doing kid. You're not exactly a major problem at your age or with your power, no matter how big some think it is.' Jiraiya already had a dozen different ways to deal with the boy in front of him. Not that he would ever use them. 'What's got sensei so worried about a kid like you?'

He did not see a danger in such familiar blue eyes. He only saw the past meeting the present. A figure briefly overlapped with Naruto's own form but it was gone in the blink of an eye.

'You're just his son. We should have all expected some of that insane genius to rub off on you too.' His eyes did not leave the eyes of the boy who would be his student.

"I see." Naruto chuckled as he turned his eyes away from Jiraiya, his form turning towards the door. "Where do you wish to meet, Jiraiya the Toad Sage?"

"The Konoha Hot Springs, three hours from now should do it."

"I will be sure to arrive with all haste." Naruto spoke no more, turning and leaving the room. The moment he stepped through the door, he made use of the Body Flicker and Hiruzen sighed as he returned to the seat behind his desk. Shikaku and Jiraiya both eyed the aged Hokage as he seemed to collapse into it more than he sat down.

"You doing alright, sensei?" Jiraiya was quick to drop his confident, show boating, and boasting act for concern for the well-being of his sensei. "This job isn't too tough on that old ticker of yours, right?" He attempted to joke but it fell flat when Shikaku reached into his Flak Jacket, removing a bottle from a pocket and wordlessly handing it over to the Hokage.

"The medicine is helping." Hiruzen opened the bottle, downing three of the pills dry, before returning it to Shikaku without a word. He offered Jiraiya a strained smile. "I'm not about to kick the bucket anytime soon even with this stressful job."

"I'm sure you could find someone willing to take that hat off your head if you really wanted to retire." _This time for good_ was not something that needed to be said by anyone in the room. All of them remembered the far too short time of the Fourth Hokage. "If, you really need to get out of here, I'll take up the hat for you no problem."

The offer was truly monumental. Jiraiya's distaste for the title of Hokage were well-known, he had too much personal baggage to even consider taking up such a title. But he would if he was asked. If there was one thing that was to be envied about the Toad Sage it was his commitment to any promise he made.

Hiruzen chuckled.

"Focus on your travels and your 'research' for now Jiraiya. I'll be sure to call you to take my place if I ever feel I need that great of a break." Hiruzen formed a steeple before him with his hands. His eyes lost all traces of humor as he looked to his topmost Shinobi on intelligence. "Now, since I'm sure you've gotten quite the read on Naruto, what do you think of him?"

Suddenly, Jiraiya was all business.

"He's not harmless but he's nowhere near as dangerous as you all seem to think. The kid has Chakra reserves that dwarf everyone in this room but he's not one for control, he's more into the idea of constant division until it stops being so gigantic. With a method like that, he'll never gain any decent control over his power. Wipe out enough of his army and he'll be incapable of using even the most basics of techniques anymore. He's strong through, could see it in the way he was standing. That armor of his is heavy, so are his weapons, if he hits you, it's going to hurt. He's also pretty observant to know I was here and call me out like that. He must have had this place under watch for a while. That Kinjutsu of his really is something else through. I don't know how you manage to create an entirely new Jutsu by screwing up another but I can't complain. No one but someone with his reserves could even hope to replicate it but I'm not worried even if they do." Jiraiya paused to chuckle, his laughter drawing the undivided attention of both Konoha Shinobi in the room with him. "The technique is most likely unique to a Jinchuriki like him. I was looking over his seal when I was waiting to show up, comparing it to what I remembered from what that little ball of sunshine, Gero, showed me ages ago, and I can't help but spot all the differences in it now."

"What?" His words immediately brought forth a reaction from the two Shinobi, Hiruzen's near panic clear as Shikaku's eyes seemed to deaden.

The amount of information currently going through his head would literally kill any other men. It brought on a minor headache to the Nara. He made a mental note to take some aspirin later.

"Yeah, the outer edges of the seal have been, well the best word I can think of, modified. Folded in a bit, twisted here and there, connected in some places, and too many more minor changes to really go into detail with you two. Just know that the central seal, the one holding the Kyubi at bay, is still very much operable. No changes to that one at all." Jiraiya could only shake his head, a sad smile briefly crossing over his face. "That kid really was a genius when he made that thing, I'm a Fuinjutsu master and I can hardly decipher the more complex mechanisms of that thing."

"Anyway, back to the topic at hand, the kid's Kinjutsu isn't something I would advise recording in the Scroll of Seals. Those 'clones' of his aren't really clones, I would call them something closer to some type of constructs of Chakra comparable to a Tailed Beast if my guess is right. To get a start on the complexity of this thing, imagine the Rasengan completed to its fullest potential and then, somehow, expanded beyond those limits. It's the epitome of Shape AND Nature transformation in the same way that kid's Kinjutsu is the epitome of the clone technique, he's reached a place where clones aren't clones any longer. They aren't mindless clones constructed out of Chakra or some useless illusions like what you've got the Academy kids learning, they're closer to actual life than anything I've ever seen before. Both of those techniques are ridiculously complex but only one actually exists to its fullest potential and it's the kid's new Kinjutsu."

"…How?" Hiruzen was the only one capable of speaking, Shikaku was still within an ever growing whirlwind of information in his mind that would not be ending anytime soon. "How could he create something like this?"

"My best guess? He doesn't even know what he's done. He knows it goes far beyond simple Shadow Clones but he's probably not clear on how far he's taken the technique and probably never will. So many factors came together that night, his bad hand signs, his seal, his status as a Jinchuriki, and, probably, his status as an Uzumaki made it so that he's made something closer to a…hmm, there's a question. What would you call a technique like this?" The Toad Sage seemed to honestly focus his efforts on such a thing like a name. "It's nowhere near as simple as a Kekkei Genkai or even something as advanced as a Kekkei Tota. That Kinjutsu of his deserves a new category, something to show just how powerful it really is."

"I believe you want to call it a Kekkei Mora, Bloodline Encompassing." Hiruzen's voice was tired as he spoke those words.

"Yes." Jiraiya gave a slow nod of his head. "A name like that, a technique that needs so many factors unique to a kid like him and no one else, fits perfectly. It is a technique that is not limited to simple DNA like any of the many Dojutsu and unique Nature Transformation around the world or limited to a narrow selection of unique individuals like Iwa's Dust Release, it is something that encompasses every aspect of a person, stretching from their DNA to their life experiences to the very core of their personality, and creates a thing that is entirely unique. No one can replicate it and no one, not even twins raised together, would ever be able to possess the same one. As much as each person is different from all others, a Kekkei Mora is different for every person who achieves it."

"Naruto's Kinjutsu is most certainly the only technique deserving of such a distinction as Kekkei Mora and we'll call it-" Jiraiya grinned as he took up his pen, the paper before him blank. His mind ran free, his thoughts in search of a name suitable to such a technique as the Kekkei Mora Naruto's Kinjutsu truly was. He needed a name that would perfectly describe the innate power, the utter grandness, and the great sorrow of such a technique to all, Shinobi and civilian alike, simply by hearing it. Every great author knew that sorrow was one of the most important aspects of a work, of any creation. The sorrow of life, the joy of life, regrets, triumphs, reflection, and so much more needed to be captured in the title he chose.

It would have to be a near equal to the title of the greatest book he had written so far, the Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi.

"AH!" Jiraiya made his proclamation clear to all those in the office. "I've gotten the perfect name!" The Toad Sage paused, swinging his arms out before raising his pen up. "We'll call it-"

"Kinjutsu: Mugen Yureigun. Forbidden Technique: Infinite Ghost Army." Shikaku's eyes snapped open as Jiraiya seemed to visibly deflate.

'That name! How could he capture the hollowness within a person to create such a technique like that? How can he capture the limitless potential of the technique, the army it forms nothing but a pale image of the original, himself a man desperate for companionship!' It almost pained Jiraiya to have such a name given by Shikaku. 'How could he do it so effortlessly! I never even knew I had competition until he spoke!' A silent challenge took hold in Jiraiya's soul then. 'Shikaku Nara, you may win this battle, you may win countless battles, but I shall win the war! Enjoy your victory while you can for it will soon be replaced with the bitterness of defeat as you face the wrath of the literary genius known as Jiraiya the Toad Sage!'

"I wanted to name it."

Hiruzen found it in himself to laugh.

Away from the Hokage Tower, far away in truth in the Uchiha District, Sasuke Uchiha sat with guests.

"I know the fame of Praetor's Orange Legion spreads without end but I do not see the reason for you to be here." He sat at ease in his chair, the red and black Sharingan overtaking his coal black eyes, as he looked at the two in front of him: The two sane Sunagakure Shinobi.

They had come somewhat unexpected, spotted a few blocks away by the watchers before they had come to a stop at the barred gate. Twenty clones of the Orange Legion's First Cohort stood before them, two centurions responsible for bringing them this far under his orders. He had observed them once they had entered the tower, made them sit in silence for close to thirty minutes alone with their guard dismissed save for the two centurions, before he decided to officially meet with them with a pair of Naruto's Praetorians with him.

He had taken his seat and, beyond greetings, conversation had been lacking for the past several minutes. He had decided to break such a thing.

The two shared a look before Temari looked to Sasuke. She would not meet his eye so he deactivated his Sharingan with a roll of his eyes.

"There, you can talk to me without any fear now. My Sharingan is no longer active." The Uchiha looked to both guests of the Orange Legion's main base in Konohagakure. It was frankly a miracle he had allowed them to enter with Naruto gone on whatever business he had with the Hokage.

He wouldn't deny, he was tempted to thin the Chunin Exams finals at the moment but he withheld the urge. He wanted to see what Rock Lee would do to Kankuro too much to pass on it. He didn't go out of his way to make their visit a great comfortable one through, the eyes of the Legion's First Cohort had not left them since they had arrived to the conquered land. The eyes of the Legion were all-seeing within their territory and the two would simply need to live with it.

"Yes…we wanted to talk to Naruto Uzumaki on behalf of our father, the Kazekage."

His eyes grew slightly wider before they returned to normal. His eyes went from the sister who had spoken to the brother that remained silent and found a similar look in their eyes. He quickly returned his eyes to the blonde and his Sharingan took hold of his eyes.

"Yes, I believe Caesar will be interested in what you've told me."

Yes, Naruto would most definitely be interested in what they had to say.

* * *

AN: I wonder what is so interesting Naruto needs to know? I wonder if Jiraiya's right about Naruto? Serious question, does the name suck? That single bit delayed posting more of what I'd already had written.


	27. The Participants Prepare!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full Chapter Title: The Participants Prepare! Training For the Finals Starts Now!

* * *

"Hmm…that is interesting news Legate. That is very interesting indeed." The moment Naruto had stepped out of the Hokage Tower he had been given an earpiece already set to a secure channel. His Praetorians had escorted him to a more secluded place and currently watched over it as he stood alone within it.

It was a weapons shop his centurions were very familiar with. It was understaffed at the moment.

" _Yes, I felt that I should inform you with all haste."_ The voice of his Legate came from the other end. _"I must admit, I did not believe it when I first heard them speak but, after hearing their proposal, I felt you needed to learn of such information immediately. Shall I send them on their way or keep them here?"_

"Send them on their way. I have an appointment I must keep today. Tell the both of them I will have them brought before me sometime later during the break. They will speak to me then or not at all." Naruto did not ask, he commanded it be done.

" _I shall insure your will shall be done Caesar."_ Sasuke answered with the words Naruto wanted to hear.

A Caesar expected nothing but obedience from all those under him after all. The Legate of his Legion was no different than the Vicarius of the lands that had fallen beneath the banner of his glorious Uzumaki Empire, all of them bowed to him. None questioned the words of their Caesar.

"Of course you shall Legate." Naruto removed his hand from the earpiece and removed it from the secure channel to the open frequency used by his Orange Legion for communication.

Naruto stepped out of the shop, nodding to the owner behind the counter, before continuing on his way. Two of his centurions stood at the door and saluted him as he passed. They, and their centuries, had been stationed nearby during the month break in the Chunin Exams by the Caesar himself. He continued to his destination as the two returned to their simple duty of watching over the store and its owner. The men of their centuries awaited elsewhere.

Naruto did not want to hurt Tenten's family business after all. The two centurions were enough to keep away any unwanted patrons while still allowing those who frequented the store entry.

'…You still have my order to fulfill as well Tenten.' Naruto briefly closed his blue eyes as he walked, opening them once more once a moment had passed. 'You will be healed.' He did not allow himself to be distracted anymore with thoughts of the Kunoichi.

He had much to focus on, a certain Toad Sage for one. His Praetorians would be delivering all information they had on a man such as he soon enough and he would spend the time between their meetings going over all he could. He would not be surprised by whatever feat the man could perform, whatever skills he possessed would be known, and he would see if he was truly worthy of teaching a Caesar such as himself. If he was, he would spend some time with him. If the man wasn't worthy of his time, if he could truly teach him nothing at all?

He already doubted the Toad Sage could bring anything of worth to him but it would perhaps be worth it to at least see the fool for the amusement.

Sometimes fools could provide the greatest of inspirations after all.

"Kakashi-sensei, shouldn't the others be here?" Kakashi did not let himself sigh at Sakura's words. They stood in the same training ground he had taken her to since Team 7's return to Konohagakure from Nami no Kuni, the same place that was marked with the numerous fruits of her training, and the same place he had originally inspired her to have some confidence in herself.

He didn't hate the fact that they couldn't continue where they had left off before the Chunin Exams, he didn't feel much of anything towards it really. Most of his ability to feel was focused towards suppressing his always growing rage at Naruto Uzumaki for everything he had done so far. From his initial insane actions in Nami no Kuni when he conquered it to now and what he had down to the girl that had swiftly become his favorite, and only true, student.

His control had come into question when he had seen the blonde's clones give Sakura a new set of armor. He had wanted to kill them but he withheld the urge, stopped himself from doing anything drastic, and forced himself to calm down. His intervention wasn't needed now. It would come later but for now, in the present, he would control himself.

"I figured they'll train by themselves." Kakashi waved away her concerns. "They don't need much help anyway."

"Y-You're right." She wouldn't meet his single eye, the ground more interesting to emerald eyes he had seen with the fire of determination in them before. He knew it was gone now. "Should I focus on my Chakra Control again?"

"No." Kakashi walked over to a boulder, one of what had to be hundreds spread across the training ground, and laid a hand on it. He didn't face Sakura. "I'm going to show you just how far you've come already Sakura."

"What do you mean?" He heard her footsteps as she moved closer to him, standing in front of the boulder with him. "I-"

She narrowly dodged his thrown kunai. Several pink strands of hair fell to the ground where she once stood before he flicked his finger, the wire string attached to it sending the kunai high up into the air with the simple movement. It snapped once the kunai reached a certain point, allowing it to continue flying higher and higher.

"I don't train failures Sakura." Kakashi slipped the string off his finger. "When that kunai strike the ground, I'm going to attack you with the intent to kill and I expect you to do the same." The kunai would reach its apex any moment now. "If you don't want to die, if you want to live past today, you'll have to see how strong you are."

"K-Kakashi-sensei! Please, don't make me embarrass myself!" Her eyes flashed to the dark blade of the kunai as it began to slow, began to turn for its imminent return to the earth under gravity. "I-I can't beat you! Not even Naruto could beat you!"

"I don't care what he or Sasuke can do." Kakashi moved one hand up to the headband that denoted his allegiance to Konoha. "Neither of them are here right now, neither of them are ever going to here. All I care about is to see what you can do by yourself." He unveiled the Sharingan hidden beneath as the kunai neared the ground. "If you don't fight back, you're going to die."

The kunai struck the ground.

He charged forward.

"I will honor my promise to you Tenten!" Lee grunted with the effort each step took in his lap around Konoha, his tenth since the sun had risen. "I will face Gaara in the finals!" Each step by itself took a tremendous effort, the weights he wore on his legs doubled in size and far heavier than before. Most would find it impossible to take a single step.

Lee would not stop his run around Konoha for anything.

His arms were similarly weighed down with his former leg weights, a pack on his back only added further weight and a greater difficulty to each step he took. It had been a struggle to even remain upright once he had put it on but he had managed to begin his running despite the added weight. He continued practicing his Taijutsu as well, dozens of dummies set up across his path and each pulverized with a single blow from the Genin that had advanced to the final.

"I must go faster!" Lee could only push himself faster, each of his steps leaving a clear imprint in the ground. He would need to learn to distribute the great weight his body carried once more later but for now he would have to settle for leaving such tracks.

Such training would be rendered secondary thanks to his current goal.

'You will pay Gaara.' A single kick shattered a dummy to splinters as he pushed himself past it. An image of Gaara took hold of his mind, the boy who had crippled his teammate with sadistic glee making the already intense fire in his heart burn brighter and brighter. 'You will pay!'

He pushed himself forward with a shout, passing the mains gates to Konohagakure.

"That is eleven down! Only nine more to go before I can at last begin some true training!"

All of this was simply a warmup after all. His real training would only begin once he had completed such easy tasks!

"What do you want?" Gaara of the Sand stood in his room, his eyes flickering towards the figure of Baki, the man leaning in the open doorway.

"There may be a change of plans." Baki's sole visible eye watched the sand that filled the room, doing everything he could to remain far away from the source of it but still be within the room. "Kankuro and Temari left to talk to Naruto Uzumaki, one of the finalists for these exams."

"I remember him." Gaara's eyes narrowed. "He's going to die. Mother wants his blood more than anything else."

"Control yourself around him." Baki was sorely tempted to make use of the seal given to him by the Kazekage when he was assigned jurisdiction over Suna's mad weapon. He withheld the desire and continued. "He may be an ally to the Kazekage in the future and need I remind you what will happen if you allow your bloodlust to get out of control?"

"Don't bother." Gaara's eyes hardened just as the sand around him became agitated, beginning to move through the air in more solid forms, a prelude to carnage. It danced around him and reeked of blood. "If you annoy me, that seal you're always carrying won't stop me from giving Mother your blood ."

To prove his point, Baki felt the grainy feel of sand around his neck. A thin line, it was all Gaara would need with his power. His throat wouldn't be slit but his entire head would be removed from his shoulder with the slightest provocation towards the teen from the Jonin. No one escaped him when he wanted you dead.

"Just remember why you're here." It was pointless to remain here.

Baki left the doorway, closing the door behind him.

Gaara stared unblinking at the door for a moment longer before turning to face the window.

'You will die Naruto Uzumaki.' Mother was pleased with such thoughts. 'Your blood will belong to Mother.'

"You're fighting a killer." Shibi Aburame was never one to needlessly drag things out.

"I am." Shino Aburame, his son, was no different.

The two stood together in a training field, half a dozen or so members of the Aburame Clan patrolling the outskirts with their kikaichu to prevent any unwanted witnesses to the secretive training. A number of jars set on the ground in front of Shibi.

"He manipulates his sand through his Chakra." Shibi rose one hand up, lifting it free of his pocket. The lids on the jars were lifted into the air as a swarm of kikaichu took to the air. Their buzzing filled the air and Shino shifted on his feet. "The girl he fought shows that projectiles don't work. His defenses can't be overwhelmed with brute force. His Chakra Reserves are also significant to create and control such a large quantity of sand in addition to his own sand which contains a large amount of Chakra."

He may not have been present to see his son fight but kikaichu were. He knew about each of the participants in the Exams.

"What are my chances of victory?" Shino took after his father in a lot of ways.

"Low." Shibi sent the kikaichu forward.

Shino did not allow his surprise at the abrupt attack show before he was gone from where he once stood, his own swarm heading out only to be devoured in a frenzy by the kikaichu his father controlled. He didn't allow his shock to show as the mad swarm slammed into the ground, ripping it apart as more of his father's insects burrowed into it.

"His sand will crush your kikaichu and assault you from all angles." Shibi remained where he stood, not bothering to move any more than he had to. "How will you beat him?"

Shino threw a shuriken at his father as his answer. Another of the jars laid at his feet opened. Kikaichu intercepted the weapon, the frenzied insects consuming the metal itself within moments.

"That will not work." Shibi spoke even as Shino threw more shuriken forward, none of them reaching the leader of the Aburame Clan. His ravenous insects were truly a sight to see. "I've forced them into a feeding frenzy, they'll eat anything now." Shibi's eyes locked with his son no matter the presence of their respective eyewear. "You must overcome this if you want to defeat Gaara."

"I will." Shino didn't go for another approach towards his father, he gathered his Chakra and his kikaichu around him. "Mushi Bunshin no Jutsu!" The swarm left him, nearly the entirety of his insects devoted to the technique as it took shape in front of him.

"Interesting strategy." It was all his father said, neither approval nor disapproval in his voice as the kikaichu gathered and took on a form identical to his son. "Now, the question is will it work against me, will it work against Gaara?"

"There's no time like the present to find out. Why? Because actions speak louder than words." The two Shino spoke as one before both dashed towards Shibi.

'Let's see if you're right son.' His swarm rose to meet them, replicating Gaara's sand once more. 'I hope you are.'

"Hinata." Away from his teammate's training ground, Kiba knocked on the closed door of Hinata's hospital room. On either side of it, a Hyuga stood with their Byakugan active and more no doubt were stationed around the hospital.

Kiba could smell them. Most had the same smell after all.

'Frickin soaps.' His nose almost rankled at the close proximity of the two stationed at the door. Akamaru was already burrowing deep into his jacket, whining at the strong scent assaulting his nose.

"Hinata." The Akamaru knocked once more, hoping for some type of answer from his gentle teammate. "Hinata, can you please open this door already?"

"Lady Hinata seems to not wish to be disturbed by someone like you." One of the Hyuga looked down at him, the pale sightless, and all seeing, eyes of the Hyuga looking down at him. "You should depart Inuzuka."

"Yeah right." Kiba simply rolled his eyes. The Hyuga could be as stuck up as they wanted, he wasn't going to leave the hospital until he had a chance to talk to Hinata. Nothing was going to make him leave the door in front of him. "I know she's awake in there."

"She may be otherwise occupied for quite some time. You should leave." The other Hyuga spoke up from the other side and Kiba wanted to refuse when he smelled something.

'I know that smell.' His eyes narrowed as he turned away from the door without a word, Akamaru breathed out a sigh of relief as the Inuzuka walked down the halls and away from the overpowering smell of the Hyuga.

It didn't take Kiba long to find the source of the smell, something he had become familiar with during the Chunin Exams, and saw clones of Naruto blocking a stairwell. From the armor they wore, he could tell they were what Naruto called his Praetorians.

In other words, they were his personal bodyguards.

'What are they doing here?' Kiba looked to the sign by the door and made a decision.

He left the hallway and found a window no problem. It was easy for a Shinobi, even a Genin, to walk up the side of the hospital and he slipped back inside through a window. He was silent as he moved to the door, his body low. He didn't make a single sound when he pulled it open to a crack and looked through it.

More Praetorians were right outside the door, standing in front of it.

He didn't curse at the sight. He stepped back and grabbed a bottle. He threw it just beneath the window and stayed close to the door when it was swung open, the same two Praetorians outside the door entering the room with their hands on their swords. He slipped out and was around the corner from a dead sprint before they left the room.

He spotted more Praetorians walking down the end of the hall, their backs to him thankfully, and he pressed himself into a doorway until their rounded the corner.

'I'm lucky they all smell the same.' He knew two others were about to round the corner right now and another two would come shortly after them. He opened the door and slipped inside it.

A glance around showed it was a supply closet and Kiba's eyes searched for a new way of travel. He found it behind a shelf and quickly formed a number of hand signs as Akamaru leaped out from his jacket.

"Beast Human Clone." He whispered the words and Akamaru took his form in a burst of smoke. He waved it away and nodded towards the shelf. Akamaru seemed to catch on quick and both moved to either side of the shelf. Kiba mouthed 'On 3.' and received another nod from the transformed ninken.

'One.'

'Two.'

'Three.'

The two were strong individually and only stronger together. It was easy to lift the shelf and move it enough for Kiba to get to what he wanted that it had blocked. It was the cover to a vent that a kunai used in lieu of a screwdriver help him free from the wall. He set it to the side as Akamaru dropped the transformation and walked in after him. He moved to the side and the ninken step past him. The white and brown dog gave him a nod before he left to scout ahead, his steps silent within the metal duct despite the claws at the end of his paws. Kiba continued forward but stopped once he came to a crossway. He would wait here and Akamaru would come back.

'The hospital really needs to bump up its security.' He entertained himself with that idle thought as he waited for the return of Akamaru. 'This place is too easy to sneak around in even if I'm from Konoha. Aren't most Medical-nin supposed to be good sensors too?' That thought only added to his questions. He was provided an answer when an image of the Praetorians came to mind. 'I would have been detected a while ago unless those guys are keeping them from moving on this floor but why?'

It would be several minutes until Akamaru returned and the entire time he was bothered by this question.

The ninken turned and lead him to whatever had gained his interest and Kiba followed without a word. He trusted his partner knew why he was here.

It took a few minutes but he eventually reached another vent cover and Akamaru came to a stop. He looked through it and had his answer.

'Tenten.' He wouldn't have recognized the heavily bandages girl if not for her familiar hairstyle. She was in an uneasy sleep, her nearly immobile body twitching. If she was healthy she would no doubt he rolling in her bed. Pain made her grimace and it only grew the fiercer her minor movements became. Her breathing quickened, the monitor told him her heart was the same, and her body broke out into a sweat. He wanted to enter the room when the door was swung open.

A doctor, trembling, was moved forward by a pair of Praetorians.

'That's it!' He had at last figured it out.

Away from the Inuzuka and the hospital, Ino Yamanaka sat with her father. The Yamanaka Heiress had not gotten any sleep last night, waking herself with her own screams each time she attempted to sleep, and now her father held her tired body against his side.

Silence passed between them, father and daughter. He did not speak, he had dealt with too many similar situations to waste time with words. He had heard her screaming, heard what happened to her during the Exams from Asuma, and knew he would be getting no sleep tonight. He did not speak when he stepped in. He did not speak when he gathered her in his arms and let her cry, let her hold on to him through the night.

He bottled up his rage at what Naruto Uzumaki had tried to do to his daughter. He simply held onto her for now.

"Dad, I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for Ino." Inoichi ran one hand through his daughter's long platinum blonde hair. "I'm just happy you're not hurt." He remembered the despair on Gai's face as he saw one of his students carried away on a stretcher, the wretched expression not fit to be on Maito Gai's as he was told the extent of her injuries. When a father could be worried that the same could have happened to his own daughter if the lots were drawn differently? When a father could obsess over thoughts of her career as a Shinobi being ended, her life ruined, he could be thankful for her only problem being nightmares. "You're safe here. Trust me Ino, you're safe here."

He didn't know who to thank for his daughter being so lucky but he would pray that she kept such luck. His daughter could get stronger for the final rounds coming up, she could still grow to the level of skill she was almost destined to, and she could still unlock all the potential he knew was buried deep down inside her.

All he had to do was hope she avoided the psychopaths in the finals.

He could just hope for her to stay safe.

He couldn't bear to entertain the horrible futures that could come to pass if she fought either of them.

He heard the knocking at the door. He figured another member of the Clan could deal with it while he stayed with his daughter.

"We're here to see Ino." Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi stood at the door, the Akmichi currently polishing off his sixth bag of chips since he had woken up. It was a bid to regain his lost weight as quickly as possible with special Akimichi brand chips. "Is she here?"

"She's not doing too well right now, maybe you could come back later?" The customary blonde hair of the Yamanaka was tied back and cut short, shoulder length, on the Chunin who answered the door.

"I can't really do that. Since me and Ino made it to the finals together, we figured we would train with Asuma-sensei together." Shikamaru stood with his hands in his pockets. "If she's not going to show up then I'm not going to head to training myself. I'll just wait here until you let me see here." The Nara yawned. "I may even get in a quick nap."

'Is this really how all Naras act?' The Chunin thought back to the numerous times the three Clans had been together. All she could think of, when she focused on the Nara Clan members, were them sleeping anywhere at any time. 'I guess it is.' She could only shake her head. 'I guess there's no beating him then.'

"Follow me then." She stepped out of the doorway and waited for the two to enter the home before closing the door. "Ino-chan is currently in bed s-"

"Yeah, we can take it from here." The Nara walked past her without bothering to listen, the Akimichi with him opening up his seventh bag of chips and following after him without issue. The Yamanaka didn't bother following after tem at that point, sighing as she returned to her duties.

She did take a minute to brief Inoichi on the situation through.

'I see.' The presence within his mind remained for only a moment more. 'Thank you for briefing me on this.'

'Of course Inoichi-sama.' If she was present, he knew she would be bowing to him.

Inoichi would tell no one but he was glad for the presence of the two boys in his home. Ino needed her friends just as much as she needed her father. She needed to know she had people who loved her, cared about her, and believed in her.

'She is fighting the Uchiha in the finals.' The thought made him want to curse. Sasuke Uchiha would be his daughter's opponent in a month's time. He did not like that fact one bit. The Uchiha was not only a well-known prodigy but he was less than mentally stable. He was probably less so now since he had brought into the empire nonsense Naruto Uzumaki had begun to scream about.

'She'll need more training to be ready for him.' He refused to even consider the alternative. His daughter would triumph over the last of the Uchiha.

The boy that was currently in Inoichi's thoughts was currently sitting within an office inside Naruto's tower in the center of the conquered Uchiha District. A scroll was in his hand, a messenger hawk sitting on his desk and a vest it wore was adorned prominently with the red swirl of the Uzumaki Empire while the dark kanji for 'Waves' was emblazoned on the swirl.

A small smile came across his face soon enough, the details contained within the scroll were positive in concerns to the future of the Uzumaki Empire's first conquered land.

"This is grand news." He set the scroll down and drew out another, this one much smaller actually, and began writing. "Caesar will need to be informed of such information as soon as possible." He rolled both scrolls close once more and used a cord to tie them both together before raising his arm.

The messenger hawk immediately flew over, her talons leaving marks on his armor where she rested on it.

"Deliver this to Caesar with all haste." He slid the paired scrolls inside the pack it carried and sealed it before rising and walking to the window. The hawk took off in a single flap of its large wings and Sasuke watched it soar across the village. Two others had been waiting for it outside, taking off with it and flying higher, almost invisible to anyone who would see the hawk bearing the message. A camera was fitted to the vest of both.

'It appears the situation in Waves has progressed as you predicted it would Caesar.'

* * *

AN: What's happened in Waves? The suspense is killing me! Oh wait...There's a chapter after this one. Enjoy.


	28. Update: The Land of Waves!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1. Violence. (OH, addition!)

AN: Full Chapter Title: Update: The Land of Waves! Gato's Terrible Legacy!

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"Things are too quiet." The centurion brought them all to a halt, drawing his sword from his side without speaking another word. He strode forward, the blue eyes of the men of the Orange Legion roaming the trees on either side of their path. The centurion was left to advance alone because he was capable, he discovered the tripwire without issue and cut it with single swing of his blade.

A log soared in front of his face and the wind shifted his blonde locks.

"Ambush." He returned his sword to his side and lifted a hand into the air. "Artillery!"

"HOO!" Pilum soared into the trees and the possible cover was destroyed, the shields of the Legion planted in front of them and protecting them from the wooden shrapnel. A group of clone started forward on either side of the road, shields and swords held at the ready while a ring was formed around Tazuna, pilum jutting out from gaps in the barrier of shields. The centurion pressed two fingers to his ear.

"Tazuna's arrival is delayed. We are being attacked." Just as he spoke, battle cries reached them from all sides. A battle cry came from the lips of those of the Legion engaged in combat and already he could smell the iron of spilled blood.

"Damn Ronin." Tazuna's voice from next to him made the centurion raise an eyebrow before he heard something that was simply uncommon.

It was a cry of alarm in a voice identical to his own.

"That's not good." The centurion spoke an understatement before blue waves of Chakra ripped through what remained of the trees and cleaved into, and through, the shields of the Legion. He was splattered in blood but paid no mind to it as he swiftly formed the necessary seals with his hands.

'Praetor's genius knows no bounds.'

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Before, the Ronin had faced hardly a quarter of the might of a century. Now they faced two.

"Kill these Ronin!" The centurion's words were met with a cry for battle as pilum soared overhead before raining down into the forest. With a sweep of his hand, he tightened the circle around Tazuna.

He did not like the technique of these Ronin. His eyes were cast to the nearest body, the cut that had bisected him from the shoulder thought to be impossible. Their armor was strong, their shields stronger and neither had provided much resistance. The technique the Ronin made use of was definitely something he would be investigating after this battle.

He did hear the ringing of steel striking steel but he could ignore that. His eyes settled on the two men charging down the road from in front of the circle protecting Tazuna.

He summoned and threw a pilum forward and his eyes narrowed when the sword of one was wreathed in Chakra before it extended, cutting the projectile in half long before it would reach the two.

'This will not be easy.' He took half the circle with him when he charged forward with a shout.

"Your wife's old man will be fine." Zabuza Momoichi, the man who had terrorized the Land of Waves with his mere presence, stood across from the man who now ruled in the absence of Naruto Uzumaki. "He got a little banged up but nothing a bit of bed rest won't fix. At least that's what Haku tells me. As for the guys with him? Most of them got killed before reinforcements showed up and took them down."

"I'm surprised I trust your apprentice more than I do you." Kaiza locked eyes with the mercenary for a moment before sighing, rubbing at his tired eyes. "Do you know who's behind the attack at least?"

The attack in question wasn't something unfamiliar in Waves, both during the rule of Gato and now in the short time after it. It seemed that Gato's had left an unwanted legacy for the people of Waves in a large bounty he had ordered put on the man who had killed him. It was a bit difficult to do so since the citizens of Nami no Kuni had butchered him in a mad frenzy, but the large bounty had been placed on Kaiza's head. He was under constant guard, the soldiers of Naruto Uzumaki's rapidly expanding Third Cohort wasted no time in tightening security in what was becoming the capital of the land.

Construction on the Orange Legion's future fleet was not halted throughout it all. It continued under a harsh schedule. Tazuna had hardly been given a day's rest to recover from the shock of the attack before he was told to return to the shipyard. The old man didn't honestly complain, Kaiza had heard him mutter something about "going stir crazy cooped up like this" before he had grabbed his tools and hurried out the house. For everything that had happened, the thing that still surprised the younger man was the fire that had been lit in his soul after so long.

He wasn't like this when he was building the bridge all of Waves would be relying on for salvation. He hadn't been the same ever since he had thought he had been marching out to his own death.

Back to the matter at hand, the attack was one of several but the first that targeted someone beyond Kaiza. Tazuna was traveling, under guard, and men they had just recently identified as Ronin from the Land of Iron had attempted to claim the bounty on his head. They hadn't succeeded. Some had been butchered during the attack, the lucky ones really, under the blades of the Legion and the others had been taken prisoner. They had been sentenced to death without a minute wasted.

"The prisoners didn't do much expect for scream." A dark smile came across the face of the Demon of the Mist. "I'm surprised most of them lasted so long with that particular execution style. I've never seen anything like it. That damn kid has got a pretty unique style."

Zabuza was referring to a particular method of capital punishment Naruto had instructed his Legion to use called crucifixion.

The Demon called it unique.

Kaiza called it barbaric.

The report he had been handed by the Demon told him everything he needed to know. The prisoners the Legion had taken had been divided into groups of three, the survivors had numbered twelve exactly out of the initial thirty-six intentionally, and sent to the four main Orange Legion camps. Three were located far from Kaiza, spread out to the very edges of Nami no Kuni to the other three cardinal directions, but he only needed to see one example of the execution for it to sicken him. The fourth camp was located in a limbo, both inside and outside of the expanding port city.

He had already seen it before, Naruto had been sure to instruct one of the centurions of his Legion to find one of Gato's more vicious surviving thug and make an example out of him. Kaiza wished he did not have to be witness to the brutal execution but the centurion of each of the centuries of the Third Cohort had been present. He couldn't refuse. He had at least made sure Tsunami and Inari didn't have to see the execution. He had thought it would be simple, a beheading with a speech at most.

He had never expected it to happen the way it did.

The man had been dragged out to the center of the camp. He was a murderer, a rapist, a thief, and a monster without question. The Centurion of the Third Cohort had listed off his crimes, a long list that made Kaiza want to go out and beat the man to death with every new crime leveled, and then given his sentence without batting an eye. The man had been smirking the entire time, smiling with pride with every one of his vile deeds and the more vicious ones had earned laughs of sadistic glee.

" _For the crimes as I have read them, committed on the lands of the Uzumaki Empire under the protection of the Third Cohort of the Orange Legion, you have been sentenced to death. Your execution is by crucifixion."_

His smirk was gone when he heard the last word. He had tried to struggle but he was weak compared to the strength of the Praetorians. A man like Kaiza, stronger than many, could be called weak when compared to the might of the Praetorians.

A crowd had actually gathered to see the man that had terrorized Waves be put to death but no one had expected for the method to be so brutal. They had cheered when the man's resistance had been met with the unrelenting strength of the Praetorians. Men, women, and children had enjoyed the sight of the man beginning to sob, to plead for mercy. Some could remember when they had done the same, heard the same countless times day in and day out, and jeered at him. He was nothing but a monster that would at last die, that would at last receive the fate all beasts like him deserved.

The man had been forced to a post by two of the hundreds of Praetorians that made up the guard Kaiza had been given where his hands were bound above him. Then a centurion had stepped forward. A whip was in his hands. Kaiza could still see it in his mind's eye now, covered in nothing but the blood of a man whose voice had given out long before the lashes had stopped. It hadn't ended there. The crowd was silent. They had originally cheered at the man's suffering, a small bit of their land's own pain being given to him, before it had simply gone on and on.

The same two Praetorians had cut him down on the orders of the centurion, dragged him away and thrown him to the ground next to a cross.

They didn't do anything else through. The same centurion that had wielded the whip came forward and drew his sword. He cut the leather into cords and handed them off to the Praetorians. They dragged the nearly dead man onto the cross, held his legs together while another came with a large hammer.

The pain of having his legs shattered made the man fully conscious for what came next. He was screaming the entire time but he no doubt remembered the identical faces that held him to the wooden cross, tied his arms to it at the wrist, forced his ruined legs straight and tied his ankles together before tying his shins to the cross. He no doubt remembered Kaiza's face when his cross was erected directly in front of the Vicarius.

Kaiza knew he would never forget that man.

The people of Waves had wanted retribution, had wanted to see the guilty punished.

They did not come to see a man tortured.

They did not come to see a man left to die.

The two Praetorians did not leave the crucified man then. They stood on either side of him with a hand on the hilt of the blade at their side and a pilum in their hand. The centurion had stepped forward next, handed him a scroll and spoke a single word.

" _Read."_

He remembered the blood that had stained the centurion's hands. He remembered the blood that had been left on the front of the scroll he had opened with numb fingers. He remembered the blood that bled through the paper, almost smudging the letters of the words he had no choice but to read.

" _People of Nami no Kuni, your lands are the lands of the Uzumaki Empire and are protected by Praetor's glorious Orange Legion. Within his lands, the word of Praetor is law. Within his lands, the Orange Legion will protect all who swear themselves to him. Refusal to follow the words of Praetor is a crime punishable by death and it will be carried out in the method you have seen before you today: crucifixion. This criminal is to hang from this cross until he is dead. A guard shall be posted here to discourage any attempts to remove this criminal. If any attempt is made, those responsible will be sentenced to death and it will be carried out by crucifixion. If this criminal does not die within 7 days, he will be killed by the guard. Once the criminal dies, no grave will be dug, no shrine will be committed to his memory, and all who knew him will seek to erase him from their thoughts. His corpse will be reduced to nothing but ash and all he owned will become property of the Uzumaki Empire and the Orange Legion. If any attempts to give this criminal honor in death are made, those responsible will be sentenced to death and it will be carried out by crucifixion. Do not despair at the sight before you today, do not feel anything but disgust for the murderer, the rapist, the abuser who hangs before you. He was a man who followed Gato, a man who let Nami no Kuni fall to poverty, to strife, and to misery. Rejoice that his life is lost today, rejoice that his memory dies with him, and rejoice that Praetor's Orange Legion watches over these lands. Rejoice people of Nami no Kuni."_

He could still hardly believe he had spoken so perfectly, so clearly, when his tongue felt as if it weighed ten tons. He had wanted to do nothing but crawl into a hole and die the entire time he had been made to speak, to commemorate the brutality as some joyous thing. He felt sick to his stomach even now just remembering what had happened.

"You alright there Vicarius?' Zabuza's humored voice brought Kaiza back to the present, away from his memories of screams, of blood, of a man broken and left to die. "You're looking a little bit green."

"I-I'm fine." Kaiza could hardly stand to know twelve men now hung from twelve crosses. He also couldn't stand that he was glad he wouldn't need to give another speech to the people, tell them to take pride in the fact that they were witnesses to such brutality. "Go…go do whatever it is you do Momoichi."

"And I'd thought you'd never let me go get drunk." Zabuza's chuckled filled the office despite the man being gone. Kaiza let his head rest in his hands, driving the palms of his hands into his eyes as he tried to block out the memories with the pain.

"Vicarius, I trust you are fine?" The centurion, at least one of the many within Nami no Kuni, entered his office not long after the Demon had left. He stopped in front of him, two Praetorians shadowing his every step. "Even if you are not, there is much work to be done with the information we have gained from the prisoners."

"Weren't they executed?" Kaiza wished he didn't ask. The centurion's face held a grin identical to Zabuza's own even if it was only for a moment.

"They hang to die as we speak." The centurion held up a scroll from his side and presented it to the man who had been placed in charge of Waves. "This information is more pressing, the location of Gato's remaining funds and the cause for the attacks against you and your family. We have gained vital intelligence and the finest century of my Cohort has been dispatched to end this problem at the roots." Kaiza now knew who he spoke to: the Centurion of the Third Cohort, the commander of all the forces that stood under the banner of the Third Cohort of Naruto's Orange Legion.

Beneath the two boys that had left Nami no Kuni for their home village, he stood with one of the ten most powerful soldiers of the Legion, one who commanded a force that would soon no doubt be worth ten Cohorts instead of the two it currently was. The expansion of the Third Cohort was no secret to the citizens of Nami no Kuni. The increased presence of the Legion's soldiers spread across their lands, the continued extermination of the stragglers of Gato's once mighty force, and the increased construction of every project the Legion undertook was impossible to ignore.

"I see." He took hold of the scroll and opened it, the map within a familiar thing to his eyes.

He had once swum up a river nearby to close a dam door not too far from where the last of Gato's vile legacy was being kept. It was once the site of one of his greatest feats, a sight of inspiration to others about the strength one man could possess, but now it would be nothing but another execution ground. Naruto's men would not leave with any prisoners, the Legion seemed to dislike the very practice of taking prisoners. They saw it as an act reserved for the truly pathetic, the weak that deserved nothing less than life-long servitude to Praetor and his Empire. Only complete conquest of their foes would do normally and Kaiza had never seen the alternative. He didn't know if he should be happy about that.

Death, no matter how cruel, is better than slavery, right? Would death not have been better than suffering under Gato's tyrannical rule? Would death not have been better for the children he forced into his service? Would death not have been better for the women taken by his thugs? Would death not have been better for the men taken from their families and shipped like cargo?

Regardless of his thoughts on the matter, the men of the Legion would attack. Gato's remaining thugs would either be killed with their steel or spared to be interrogated on the location of his funds by the centurion that commanded the assault. Those men would be questioned there, they would be sentenced there, they would be crucified there, and they would be left to die there. The might of the Orange Legion was absolute in Nami no Kuni and, with it, Naruto's power was impossible to deny.

Once Kaiza had been amazed at the power of Naruto Uzumaki but now he was growing more and more sickened by it.

'At least he's nothing like Gato.' It was his one solace. Gato was a petty man, one who abused his power simply because he could, and Naruto was nothing like the former tyrant of Nami no Kuni. He wouldn't randomly select citizens to crucify at the very least. His Legion did not rob, murder, and rape the people. They protected them, helped them, let them become strong once more. When no one else had batted an eye as Gato took over the small land, Naruto had come and freed them all. Naruto was building Nami no Kuni, letting it become great once more and allowing the people to truly live again. Gato had only destroyed it, let its people sink deeper and deeper into despair with his sick glee growing every day.

Yes, Kaiza could be sickened by the sight of Naruto's more extreme showings of his authority but he could not hate the blue eyed Shinobi. He was a hero to the people after all.

By the end of the day, he would be sending a report on the complete extermination of Gato's forces to Konoha, carried by the wings of a messenger bird.

* * *

AN: Before I continue, take a moment to appreciate the research I did for the crucifixion part. Broken legs would lead to collapse when the arms gave out and leave the victim to suffocate. That's at least what I read. If you know more, PM me or leave a review and I will gladly correct this bit and credit you. I want to strive for accuracy for this part actually.

Anyway, ignoring the crucifixion, onward to replies.

hennessyswagg83: I've already replies to you via PM.

Megatronus Uchiha: Your challenge has been accepted and I'm currently working on it.

Donthedarkdragon26: I am glad to have entertained you. And yes. It will still happen.

Guest: I've learned you can't please everyone. I'm currently actually questioning if you even went far enough to read this...

Ecomadness: I have given more!

Review or PM if you want.

Peace.


	29. A Sage Training A Caesar, Day 10!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full Chapter Title: A Sage Training A Caesar: Day 10!

* * *

"Caesar, do you wish for me to accompany you today?" The Legate of the Orange Legion waited outside his door, seamlessly falling into step with him as he exited his quarters. Naruto spent a moment adjusting the cape on his shoulders, a fresh one after the events of yesterday just like the cape he had worn before it was and the one before it and the one before it and several more, before responding.

"There is no need to leave the center of my growing Empire so understaffed." His helmet was held in his hands and he took a moment to examine it before scowling. "It seems these marks are permanent." His scowl morphed into a grin suddenly as he placed the helmet on over his head. "The Toad Sage is perhaps worthy of being my teacher after all."

"It appears so." Sasuke's eyes were unreadable for a moment before he seemed to remember something, a scroll drawn from his side and extended to his Caesar. "The Second Cohort has news I hope you will enjoy this morning Caesar."

"Any news they bring is most joyous Legate." Naruto continued walking as he broke open the seal of his Second Cohort of his Orange Legion, the trio of bloody swords broken, and his blue eyes raced over the message placed within. His grin shrunk ever so slightly. "This is not as great news as I wished. Construction will take much more time than I originally believed. Even if the Fourth is moved to assist, docking the perimeter of the security zone greatly, nothing will be accomplished ahead of schedule."

"It is unfortunate news but that is not all Caesar." Another scroll was handed to Naruto. "The report comes in two parts."

"May the second be greater than the first than Legate." He broke open the seal as he handed the first scroll back. His grin returned. "Yes, this is most certainly greater." He handed the scroll back to the Legate of his Orange Legion. "See to it that the Centurion of my Second Cohort receives praise for such a thing."

"It shall be done." Sasuke crossed his fist over his armored heart as the two neared the doors to the tower, Praetorians stationed there already drawing them open. "Shall I expect the return of your Praetorians later?"

"If I have need of them, they will return." Naruto stepped through the doorway as Sasuke stopped.

'And perhaps they'll even carry you back again.' He turned so none saw the growing smile on his face as his mind left the present and headed back back to when Naruto's Praetorians had been forced to carry him to his rooms in the tower. He had caught sight of it while heading to his own rooms and kept himself hidden as two Praetorians had thrown an arm each over their shoulders. He would have called Naruto drunk if he didn't see the damaged state of his armor.

He had gone to sleep stifling his laughter. It was rare to see a Caesar in such a state after all.

He was back in the present and stifled his laughter as he headed to his office. He had stopped there briefly before heading to meet Naruto on his exit from his room and seen dozens of messenger birds. He sometimes shuddered to think of the work all ten Cohorts would cause him if this was only five. Two even remained stationed in Hi no Kuni, the Fifth being spread out away from the village and the First remaining stationed within the village in its entirety.

'The Second and Fourth remain in Uzu no Kuni under orders from Caesar himself and the Third is entrenching itself in Nami no Kuni to continue not only reconstruction of the newest lands of the Empire but to continue construction of Naruto's new fleet as well.' Sasuke chuckled once he was within his office. 'It makes more and more sense to have avoided that fight now.'

Honestly, he never stood a chance to beat Naruto with this much manpower at his beck and call.

"It would have been stupid to even try." He shook his head as he held his arm up, the first bird alighting itself on his armored forearm before his hand reached for the scroll it carried.

It would be best to start his work now. He still needed to train for the finals after all. It would be shameful for the Legate of the Orange Legion to fall to a girl like Ino Yamanaka. His Caesar would expect nothing short of complete dominance in the battle.

He would make sure the girl stood no chance against him.

"Good." Asuma cut the flow of Chakra to his single Chakra Blade just as a panting Ino dropped to her knees. She had been instructed to avoid his swings for as long as she could and she had lasted longer than last time, nearly three minutes. He wasn't going anywhere near his full speed but it was no joke either. The Killing Intent he was leaking out, even if only moderately, helped with the training. They had been training for hours now actually, far longer than the heiress was used to, in preparation for her match in the Chunin Exams. "You've gotten better but it's still not good enough." The rather harsh criticism, at least for the normally laid back Jonin, only received a nod from Ino.

"J-Just give me a minute. I need to catch my breath and we can go again." The bearded Jonin wasn't a brutal taskmaster, he wasn't going to push her any further than she could actually manage. Inoichi also wouldn't appreciate his daughter coming home a near corpse.

Inoichi also had two very strong friends. Neither would question helping their friend beat another Jonin.

"We'll take a break for the next hour actually." He also figured that, in addition to avoiding a beating from her father, Ino needed to rest. "We'll start again once the hour's up."

"No." Asuma cocked an eyebrow at her response. The Yamanaka Heiress dragged herself back up to her feet somehow. "Just give me a few minutes. We can keep going."

"Training like mad isn't going to help you Ino." Asuma lit up a cigarette, inhaling the nicotine before blowing it out. "Even if you had trained like this for years, I'm still not sure you'll be able to beat the Uchiha."

'His Sharingan already makes it difficult. His Ninjutsu and his Taijutsu just make it worse.' His mind flashed back to the attempted immolation of the Sound girl. 'His little sadistic streak doesn't help either.' He breathed out another breath of smoke.

It was not relaxing.

'Why couldn't she fight someone sane?' His mind flashed to the other participants in the finals. Naruto and Gaara were the same as the Uchiha and he still didn't know which of the two was worse than the other. Temari and Kankuro, Gaara's sister and brother respectively, were possibly worse with their techniques probably outstripping Ino's by a wide margin judging by the summon one could use. Shino, Lee, and Shikamaru all had their own strengths and weaknesses he was sure Ino at least already knew.

"With his level of Ninjutsu, Taijutsu skills, and that Sharingan giving him Genjutsu in addition to all of its other bonuses? You can't beat him with just brute strength. Most of your class probably couldn't manage to beat him if they tried like that. He was the top of the class for a damn good reason and he's probably happy to show anyone why. In terms of raw power, he's leagues ahead of nearly everyone in the Exams. You saw him use not just one Nature Transformation in his preliminary. He probably knows more thanks to his Sharingan and Kakashi being his teacher." He didn't pay attention to Ino's growing depressive air from his words. He needed to give her a dose of reality. "You can beat him with tactics through, mind games, just get into his head and destroy his focus. If he can't focus, there's not a lot he can do to stop you from bringing him down. The right words and the right traps can make this match hardly a minute long."

"Really?" She sounded almost stunned.

"Yeah." Asuma took in another drag from his cigarette. "If you do things right, push the right buttons, he'll be easy pickings for you. Just make sure that you don't push him too far, you want him unbalanced from anything you do. You do not want him like how he was when it came to his preliminary match. He tried to burn that girl to death because of what she said. You say the same thing and he'll try the same. The Proctor may or may not intervene in time to save you."

"You won't let him kill me, right Asuma-sensei?" Ino didn't get an answer.

Of course he would save his student, any rules and any penalties the Hokage tried to throw on him be damned, but he couldn't let her know she had a safety net. If she thought she was safe, had a Jonin ready to jump in at any moment, she wouldn't take things serious. She needed to train anyway. The Yamanaka had a legacy in the T&I force. She needed to cut her teeth with the Uchiha, know how to get in his head now and she could do the same with others. She needed that kind of experience as much as she needed her training now.

He turned away from her an exhaled the smoke.

"We'll break for the hour."

"I'm surprised if delighted to find you haven't disappointed me yet Toad Sage." Naruto sat down in front of a third of the Sannin of Konohagakure. "What new teachings do you bring a Caesar today?"

"You really are something kid." Jiraiya allowed a smile to cross his face. Despite his attitude and his talk of being a Caesar, the blonde in front of him wasn't anywhere near as bad as his small bout of research had made him think he was. From the Academy reports he figured he would be dealing with some idiot who couldn't sit still and didn't have any patience. The kid he was training for the month was patient, calm, and had a mind like a steel trap. "I don't have much today, we can just continue where we left off yesterday with your training."

"And continue to learn that Jutsu?" Naruto's face twisted into a grimace at the thought. "Surely there is something else you can teach me, something much more deserving of the time as one such as myself and fitting for a man of your renown."

"Ha! Don't try and avoid the truth kid! You're just afraid of having it blow up in your face again." He knew he struck a chord when the Uzumaki's eyes narrowed, rage took hold of his face for a moment before it was forcefully suppressed. If he wasn't looking for it specifically, he may have missed it or called it a trick of the light.

The kid was good, had one hell of a poker face, but he wasn't perfect at keeping his emotions in check.

"I am a Caesar and I fear nothing." Naruto growled those words, his eyes changing in his rage.

'Note to self: Talk to him about the seal later.' The red eyes that glared at him were gone in a blink. 'Or maybe not.'

The Sannin would definitely be seeing just how much control Naruto had over the Kyubi's power.

"I will master that technique soon enough." Naruto held his hand out before him and Jiraiya couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. An irregular and bulging swirling sphere of Chakra gradually took shape in his palm but it was hardly able to reach half the size of the normal Rasengan. It stayed around the size of a marble more often than not.

From the look on Naruto's face when Jiraiya glanced up at him, it was a tremendous effort to even accomplish that much. His face was in a grimace of concentration and his eyes were focused only on the misshapen results of his personalized training when it came to learning the Rasengan.

" _I don't need this balloon or your ball." The boy scoffed as he tossed both away, the balloon bursting, water spreading across the ground and turning it into mud, and Jiraiya sighing when the rubber ball went bouncing into the trees._

' _I've got to find that damn thing now.'_

" _You can't learn the Rasengan without going through the steps kid." Jiraiya held out his palm, a Rasengan coming to life in it. "If you want to master the Jutsu that took even the incredible Toad Sage some time to master, you need to listen to what I've got to say."_

" _It is nothing but shaping Chakra." Naruto held his own palm up and focused on it. Chakra leaked from his entire hand but took no form. "I will master this technique without those worthless steps."_

That had been three days ago. Naruto had advanced his Rasengan at a snail's pace and had ended up wasting a good majority of his Chakra the first day and had stumbled out of the training grounds. Jiraiya had tailed him through the streets and was impressed.

The kid had a will like no other. If he didn't know any better, he would think the kid was perfectly fine. Once he got within sight of the growing fortress he was building, he left him alone.

"This would be easier if you just let me teach you the normal way." Jiraiya wasn't upset with himself when the unstable sphere exploded outwards, shredding some of the skin on Naruto's hand when it dropped into his palm, at his interruption.

One thing about Naruto's bastardized Rasengan was that it required constant focus to even maintain. Once his focus was taken off it, even for a moment, it collapsed.

"I do not need your training." Naruto hissed those words, his own stubbornness making him refuse to draw his hand back in front of Jiraiya. Instead they both could see the skin slowly knit itself back together, fresh skin spreading from the edges of the wound and inward. "I already have the basics and will complete this Jutsu."

"Really?" Jiraiya didn't hide his smile when he held out his own hand and let the Rasengan take hold, its size truly massive in comparison to Naruto's own poor attempt. Of course it was still smaller than the creator's own Rasengan but Jiraiya never dreamed of mastering it to that extent. "Can you get it this big yet kid?"

"It is a struggle." It was clear from the way those words came out through gritted teeth that Naruto would have preferred to bite off his own tongue than admit his inability to truly form the Rasengan. "I am improving it and will outclass you soon Toad Sage."

"You think you can manage that kid?" Jiraiya fed his Rasengan more Chakra, making it triple in size within mere seconds. Naruto's eyes widening at the sight in shock was more than worth the Chakra cost. There was a glimmer of true amazement at the sight in front of him before it was ruthlessly squashed down.

"I will in time." Naruto looked down to his own hand and the irregular mass of swirling Chakra reappeared but his eyes narrowed at the very sight of such imperfection. The wild strands that whipped around the edges of the Rasengan, wasted Chakra lost to the world, were the first to come under his control. It was impressive to watch the gradual stability giving form to his attempt at the Rasengan, the strands of Chakra that whipped through the air slowly shrinking as Naruto focused.

'He's stabilizing the shell first.' Jiraiya took note of how the irregular shape quickly became a sphere. It was much bigger than his normal attempt, nearly half the size of Jiraiya's own but it still wasn't perfect. It was growing and shrinking from Naruto's improper control. He obviously didn't know if he should feed more Chakra to the technique or less and it was making the usually self-stabilizing technique almost dangerously unstable in turn. It was still impressive to see, Naruto's own determination to match the Toad Sage, no matter how unrealistic it was to match his skills with the Rasengan, had provided some actual improvement. 'It's just like I did when I started learning the thing. He's just as smart as I thought to figure out that's a big part of the problem.'

Naruto growled when the Rasengan eventually dispersed. He didn't pay in his flesh for his failure this time but it still wasn't something that he was proud of. His hand curled into a fist and he dug his nails into his palm. He looked to the smiling Jiraiya and his hand opened once more.

Another blue sphere formed, this one far larger than a marble but still nothing close to the normal size of the Rasengan. Jiraiya could admit it was at least a start down the right path.

"You learn fast Naruto." Jiraiya could compliment an accomplishment when he saw one. Naruto increasing the overall size and stabilizing his Rasengan was such an accomplishment. He seemed to have found the key to his success actually. "Most people honestly need the balloon and the ball to get this close."

"I need neither." Naruto's eyes focused on the burgeoning Rasengan in his hand. His fingers wanted to curl into a fist again but he withheld the urge. He took hold of his wrist with his free hand and his eyes focused solely on the Jutsu he had sworn to master. "I am a Caesar."

The Rasengan pulsed like a heart in his hands, expanded to the proper size in Jiraiya's eyes, and Naruto refused to release it. The expanded Rasengan had ground against his palm for a moment and left it covered in shredded flesh but he did not let the pain blind him. The blood was taken in by the Rasengan, a red sheen added to the blue light it naturally released.

"Do you not see it now Toad Sage?" Naruto did not look away from his slowly growing Rasengan, nearly the entirety of his being focused on the Jutsu now. "Do you now see how a Caesar needs nothing but his own genius, his own strength, and his own will to conquer any challenge before him!" Excitement took hold of his voice. "I am a Caesar of the Uzumaki Empire, Praetor of a Legion, and I have mastered the Rasengan!"

'No you haven't.'

Jiraiya batted his hand to the side, the Rasengan, already unstable from his influxes of Chakra, dispersing with an actual blast of Chakra this time. The Sannin was unaffected by it, the steel hair that wrapped around him in moments uncurling and shortening, while the Uzumaki was thrown on his back.

"You really haven't mastered it yet Naruto." Jiraiya looked down at Naruto from where he stood above him. "Until you learn to perfect the Chakra and get the overall feel of what the technique should be like, the Rasengan won't become self-sustaining like it should be." To prove his point, Jiraiya formed his Rasengan, normal sized, once more. He held it in front of him as Naruto sat up, refusing to show any effects of the explosion if they even were any to begin with. "You're on the path to get there but you're still far off from the end."

"I see." Naruto rose to his feet with as much dignity as he could manage after being thrown onto his back from the blast. "I must be able to use it in the midst of combat to truly master the Rasengan." Naruto held his hand out in front of him once more and a spiraling sapphire sphere of Chakra took hold above his palm once more.

The soft whir it released in time with Jiraiya's own was almost calming, soothing. It brought back memories of the simpler, the better past.

" _When you feel confident with it, we'll see whose Rasengan is strong with a clash!"_

" _I'm already confident with it kid. You're looking at the one and only Toad Sage after all!"_

"When you feel confident with it, we'll see whose Rasengan is stronger with a clash." Jiraiya smirked. His words had instantly gained Naruto's attention.

"You will regret issuing such a challenge Toad Sage!" Naruto's eyes flashed from blue to red as he focused. "Your pride will be wounded when I give you a taste of the power of a Caesar!"

Hours would pass before the two would clash, hours that produced quite the results.

"Come!" Steel rung against steel once Sasuke clashed with the blade of another of the Praetorians. Two others were scrambling back to their feet and showed the fruits of their own training.

Chakra consumed the blades, the techniques of the Ronin that had attacked Tazuna simple to learn and a thing the Praetorians mastered. Crescents of Chakra flowed towards the Uchiha with a swing of their blades and he copied the technique.

It wasn't with his Sharingan. He had taught the heads of each Cohort the technique after all.

He bisected the blades of Chakra with his own before the three Praetorians swung as one, three waves of Chakra fusing into one, and he did not attempt the same trick. He sunk into the ground and began his attack immediately once he burst out of it.

"Katon: Gokakyu!" Fires surged forward. Each Praetorian was a mirror image of the other. They fell to a knee, drove their blades into the ground, and rushed through hand signs.

"Suiton: Suidan!" A stream of water erupted from each of their mouths and three became one once more. The mist the collision between his fireball and the water created hid the torrent of water coming towards him from sight.

'You truly are a genius Caesar.' Sasuke could not help but remember the words of his Caesar not too long ago.

" _Your Genjutsu resistance training has at last shown itself Legate. It has also enlightened me to the importance of my Legion being well versed in the Shinobi Arts, beyond the simple techniques the likes of the Substitution and Body Flicker they already possess. I had plans to incorporate Jutsu, simple things, into the repertoire of my Legion ever since I saw the effectiveness of such power from Silver Fang in Nami no Kuni but lacked the knowledge to implement it and keep my other projects on track. I feel almost foolish to have forgotten the abilities of your Sharingan, especially when my greatest enemy possesses the same eye as you. Your skills with Ninjutsu will make you responsible for training my Praetorians. You possess a number of Jutsu thanks to Silver Fang's hubris and you will teach them to the elite of my Legion. Once that is done, they will teach the rest of the Legion. I wish you good luck Legate."_

'I'm still surprised this worked.' The Praetorians had learned several Jutsu in the past week. Each of them were simple and considered the basics of learning any Nature Transformation but quantity always had the ability to beat quality, especially when the Legion made use of something. It was only helped by the comparatively few hand signs needed to use such techniques when compared to the more complex ones. At times, the few seconds needed to form the needed hand signs for more powerful techniques could lead to a Shinobi's death at the hands of another's weaker but more swiftly performed technique.

'I guess I shouldn't be surprised.' Sasuke was not blind to the present, he countered the swing of one of the Praetorians but the ringing of steel on steel only allowed the other two to unleash another bullet of water on his position. He dodged out of the way and broke away from the Praetorian he was clashing blades with, his foot being driven into his chest helping him gain distance.

"You're impressive as always but I should expect nothing less from the personal guards of Caesar himself." Sasuke's Sharingan saw the three with ease as they regrouped. He was looking through a mist made of Chakra but it was easy to spot where his was absent. It had been created by his fireball and their water clashing after all, mixing the two Chakras. The lack of his in a substantial and body shaped space was enough to clue him into their location. "It's a shame that I'm better than the three of you."

They didn't rise to his bait but he didn't expect them to. He didn't need them to either. He inhaled.

"Katon: Hosenka!" His aim was nearly perfect as he unleashed a dozen small fireballs. The Praetorians seemed to understand it would be useless to attempt to destroy them and so scattered. He moved the fireballs of course to follow them. They veered off course and formed into a larger trio of three fireballs. It was a strain but it was well worth it to drive the Praetorians back, their shields taking the brunt of the blast as they were struck by his attack.

He moved to capitalize of course, drawing up his sword and extending the blade with his Chakra.

'A Praetorian should never equal the Legate.' That thought made him move with all the speed he possessed, swing with all the power he held, and attack with no mercy.

The smoke cleared.

He returned his sword to his side.

Three Praetorians were limp on the ground.

He had not killed them and they knew it was only because he did not need to worry about those so much weaker than him.

"Who else will challenge me?" He did not let his exhaustion show. A host of Praetorians stood before him. Three stepped up to challenge him, three moved away their fallen brothers, and he allowed himself to breath.

'A Legate must stand above the Legion he commands.'

He would not fall. He could never fall.

They charged him with a shout and steel drawn from their side. He met them with the same.

* * *

AN: So, at the end of this update I'll be leaving an AN on the future of this story. Read it if you want.


	30. A Sage Training A Caesar, Day 16!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full Chapter Title: A Sage Training a Caesar: Day 16!

* * *

"Hinata." The voice of Hiashi Hyuga stopped the Genin cold. She did not turn around to face him but it was not out of defiance. Her wound from the Chunin Exams was still too tender to allow for such movement. The Branch House member responsible for her care aided in turning her around a moment after her father spoke, staying mindful of her wound thanks to eyes just like her own if not stronger. The doctors had been clear that she should not move abruptly less she cause further damage to a wound that would already have a difficult road of recovery laid ahead for her.

The antidote Kankuro had been forced to provide wasn't as effective as the medical staff had hoped and the effects of the poison he had used had weakened her immune system considerably, it had almost been outright fatal. She had to be exceedingly careful the entire time since the injury. If the wound, still raw from the mainly ineffective antidote, became infected the resulting infection could possibly kill her. The doctors had been clear that her body couldn't handle the shock of it.

"Yes Father?" Her hands were clasped in front of her and her eyes were focused towards the ground. The Branch House member, after making sure she remained healthy, bowed with her head touching the floor. She did not dare raise her head for fear of Hiashi punishing her.

He had been especially irritable with members of the Branch House after learning of Neji's performance in the Chunin Exams. An unspoken boundary had appeared between the two and would not be fading away anytime soon.

"Know you disappointed not only myself but the Clan with your pitiful performance in the Chunin Exams."

"I know Father." Her eyes remained focused on the ground, focused on the stray hair of the Branch House member bowing, seeing the minute trembling she knew her father saw as well. He may even sport a small smile at a Branch House member knowing her place so well.

"Remember your weakness shames the clan." Hiashi spoke no more to her. She did not expect him to speak much beyond those words to her and she was happy that was the case. The less he spoke to her was for the better for them all in the end.

"I know Father." It was truly one of the only responses she could give. Any other and he would punish her, be reminded of her many failings and punish her despite her injuries.

She knew, deep within her heart, he would not care if she died because of what he would do. She knew he would not care if he dealt her a crippling injury in his fury, blinded by his hatred at things far beyond what she could directly control. He would more likely rejoice that a weak heiress had died. Her sister, her much stronger sister being most important to Hiashi, would take her place as heiress of the Hyuga and have the love he had never given her.

And then he would begin to hate her sister as much as her. Neji was genius like no other and Hanabi could not measure up to someone like him no matter how hard he pushed her.

He turned away from her after a moment of looking at her in what had to be disgust before he left down the halls. Hinata remained where she was standing with her head bowed and eyes focused on the floor for several minutes longer regardless of his continued absence for her sight. She had to be sure he was gone.

"He's gone." She spoke to the Branch House member at her feet and she slowly rose her head from the floor, her Byakugan active once more.

"Do you still wish to depart Hinata-sama?" She remained on her knees.

"Yes." She rose to her feet and waited for Hinata to begin moving again.

Hiashi was very clear. His daughter was to be escorted by a Branch House member at all times for her own protection. He considered her pathetically weak now, considered her unable to fight even an Academy student with a chance of victory. He did not care that she was wounded, that she had come so close to a victory that she would have never gained a few months ago. He did not care about anything but the fact she had lost her match and Neji had not only won but used techniques that should be restricted to the Main House.

He was embarrassed one of his daughters, his eldest and heiress of the Hyuga, failed where a Branch House member succeeded.

Or he was angry at Neji's own prodigious skills. Maybe he was angry that Neji mastered a technique that had taken him years to begin to learn with the best of teachers. Perhaps he was jealous of his nephew's genius, the reminder of how he had gained his position.

Hinata knew the story of her long deceased uncle rather well after all.

She was focused deeply on her thoughts as she stepped through the door with aid of the Branch House member. She didn't notice the familiar face that was seemingly waiting for her.

"Hinata." The voice from the side almost made her jump but a soothing hand from the woman next to her, no doubt aided by the healing techniques that had been the reason she had been ordered to be her escort in the first place, made her still and her body relax before any harm could come to her. A huff of air not dissimilar to a snort came from next to her. "I should have known I would scare you."

"N-Neji." Hinata's eyes remained on the ground. The prodigy of the Hyuga Clan had every reason to hate her and her fear was not an easy thing to hide. "I-I didn't think you would still be here when you have a match to prepare for in the finals."

"Fate has already decided that battle. I'm not concerned about it." Neji did not need his Byakugan to know Hinata was afraid of him and a part of him, the part of him that made him attack Yoroi far beyond what was reasonable, relished such a thing. He enjoyed the fact that the girl in front of him was so afraid of him that she was nearly trembling at his mere presence. "I'm here because I want to speak with you."

Neji's eyes turned to the curious eyes of his fellow Branch House member.

"I can watch over her for you Hina." He received a nod and a small smile from the woman before she wordlessly departed. Hinata did not let her terror get to her as she saw her escort leave. She forced down her panic when Neji offered her his arm and she accepted it.

"I-I'm surprised you want to talk to me." He spared her any strain and was slow as he guided the two down the roofed walkway.

"You need to stay away from Naruto Uzumaki." Neji was not someone to waste time. He did not allow Hinata time to react either. "I will either cripple or outright kill him in our match in the finals for the way he looked at you during the First Stage." Neji was also someone who remembered things well. "Your father will also no doubt dislike him."

"I-I-" Hinata could not speak the defiance she felt. She wanted to say she did not care what her father thought, that she did not care what he wanted of her, but terror took hold of her. Neji was with her but she felt as if her father was watching her now, waiting for her to show defiance to crush it. He could very well be monitoring her with his Byakugan.

Neji could even be reporting to him.

She could not be defiant. She could not speak such words and expect to avoid punishment.

"I understand."

She could not be defiant until the eyes of her father no longer watched her every move.

"That is good news to hear." Neji came to a stop and she was forced to do the same. He did not pull away from her but it was clear who he was waiting for. During their brief walk together, they had rounded a corner and the Branch House member that was assigned as her caretaker, Hina, approached them from across the compound.

Neji and Hina seemed to have planned the encounter.

'You're wrong Neji.' The Hyuga prodigy wordlessly handed her off to Hina. 'Naruto is going to be the one to beat you in the finals no matter what you think. He's far stronger than you.'

"RASENGAN!" Naruto threw his hand forward, the swirling mass of Chakra screaming through the air before it struck the tree in front of him. The bark was destroyed as he drove his hand into it, the trunk warped under the fury of the rotating Chakra, and at last the mighty tree fell with a crack like thunder and struck the ground with enough force to make it tremble.

That tree was one of many Naruto had practiced his perfected Rasengan on.

A blue haze leaked from his hand and he chuckled as eyes so similar yet so different to that aimless haze looked to his hand. He almost seemed to marvel at it, marvel at the power he now held, literally, in the palm of his hands. He looked at it and he began to laugh.

"No wonder the Fourth Hokage made great use of such a technique as the Rasengan." He had learned the history of the Rasengan from the Toad Sage as he had mastered it and perfected his use of it over time. Even now, a new Rasengan formed in his palm with the soft whirl he had grown to associate with the technique. "This is the perfect technique."

"I wouldn't go that far." Jiraiya spoke up from next to his blonde student. "The Fourth Hokage never did complete it after all."

This gained a Caesar's attention.

"What?" He was not asking a question, he was demanding an answer and Jiraiya knew it.

"I meant exactly what I said Naruto." Jiraiya fired back his answer and pushed off the tree he was leaning again. He held up his hand and the Rasengan took shape with a soft whine. "The Rasengan, a technique already so powerful, can become a true force to be feared if one was to complete it. It's a tremendously difficult task through. Not even the technique's creator, the Fourth Hokage, could manage it before he died. He died young but it's important to realize that not even the man who knew all the ins and outs of the technique could manage to truly finish it beyond the basics. At the end of the day, the Rasengan both you and I use is an imperfect version."

"Impossible." Naruto lifted his Rasengan into the air. "This technique is too powerful to be something incomplete."

"The technique is power because the Fourth Hokage was a genius, a man able to create techniques that requires no hand seals but were incredibly powerful regardless. He rewrote the rules with his intelligence and made the Rasengan as the basis for a greater and more powerful technique." Jiraiya grew his Rasengan to a greater size with a surge of Chakra, forming the Giant Rasengan. "Imagine a technique as powerful as the Rasengan but somehow even more powerful."

He did not let words speak for him anymore, he turned and decided to give a demonstration instead.

"Great Flame Rasengan!" Before he struck the large tree, he shot out a stream of fire, the Rasengan quickly being consumed as it fed the flames even as it drew them towards the center. It grew and condensed the fire until it had become nothing but a miniature inferno.

He struck the tree and the world before him turned into hell.

"Incredible…" It was all Naruto could say as he beheld the ash of the once mighty trees, reduced to nothing before the might of the Rasengan. A dozen had been turned to nothing but a dark covering of ash on the ground, the might they held worthless against the fury of the Rasengan.

"It is incredible." Jiraiya folded his arms over his chest. A proud smile adorned his face. "I haven't been able to perfect the Rasengan myself but I've been able to combine it with some simple techniques to make it much more powerful. It's my dream to see it perfected one day but, at the rate I'm going, I don't think I'll ever manage to finish it."

'If a man cannot complete such a technique, a Caesar shall do it.' It was a silent vow in that moment. Amid the crackling of the fires that burned before him, the soft breeze, and the leaves that fell from the treetops to the forest floor, he made his oath without words.

A soft whir from behind him drew Jiraiya's attention.

"Come Toad Sage, let us see whose Rasengan shall triumph!" Naruto held the mastered Rasengan in front of him, his grin at the results of his training clear. Jiraiya could chuckle, his mind focused on both the past and the present once more before he turned to his student. The Toad Sage did nothing but form his own Rasengan in front of him.

Both charged the other, Naruto's speed impressive for someone his age. It was especially impressive in the armor he wore.

Jiraiya knew it was incredibly heavy.

'I wonder just how fast you are without it, Naruto?' Jiraiya couldn't help but let that question come to mind. 'Are you just like a yellow flash to the poor bastards fighting you?' Such a thought, another reminder of the past, brought forth a melancholic smile to his face. 'Do you take after your old man with that speed of yours?'

"Alright kid, time to see if you've really mastered the Rasengan!" Jiraiya charged his student and Naruto did the same.

"I'll prove that I've surpassed you Toad Sage!" The two neared each other and the inevitable clash drew closer and closer.

"RASENGAN!" Two voices cried out together as twin spheres of Chakra clashed.

"Jiraiya is a failure." From his office, Hiruzen sighed as he observed the clash from his crystal ball. He turned away from it and ended the technique. He wanted to argue, to deny it, but he found he could only agree with the words of one of his oldest friends. "He was supposed to observe his abilities and provide a report and he's hardly managed to do that satisfactorily. The boy should be removed from him before he grows any more in power or the fool teaches him another of the Fourth's techniques."

"There is nothing I can do now. Jiraiya will train the boy no matter what I do, even if I forbid it. He'll concoct some reason or another to keep the boy with him and the boy won't argue now, he knows what he can learn from someone like Jiraiya." Hiruzen did not smoke like he wanted to or begin to drink like he should. He needed to remain focused on the task at hand. "The best option is to keep him busy after the Chunin Exams, prevent him from directly managing his forces and do the same with Sasuke Uchiha. They're both all but guaranteed for promotion and Chunin are expected to tackle far more missions than any Genin. I can think of several places to send him to, places far away from the village and from his army."

"It won't work Hiruzen." Danzo Shimura remained in front of him, his one visible eye expressing his disappointment. "We both know just how powerful this blasted Kinjutsu of his is and how versatile he's been able to make it. Those Praetorians don't leave his side within the village and it's likely a small army will follow him out of it. If his actions in Waves are to be a baseline…" He did not continue.

"…more lands will come under his control, perhaps even willingly." Hiruzen finished for him. "The more lands that fall under his control, the more power his Empire will possess and his army will grow larger and larger."

"And then he will eventually take lands by force, annex any he sees fit, and send his armies to conquer them." Danzo gripped his cane too tightly. His knuckles were chalk white. "If we allow this to continue, allow him to continue unopposed, he will eventually be too powerful for any of the Five Nations to stop and then what will happen Hiruzen?" He did not allow his old friend time to respond. "Can you let him continue now, keep telling yourself it is nothing but a boy being a boy, when you know how it will end?" He was cruel because it was a necessity to the survival of the village.

"We are not certain that is how this will end Danzo." Hiruzen was not speaking like a blinded fool. "Naruto possesses a loyalty to the village I have never questioned even as an Academy student, possesses a passion for his dream like no one else, and I've never known a boy like him to be so callous to simply disregard the singular focus of his thoughts for years. He'll do questionable things but I have no doubt he'll remain loyal."

"The Naruto Uzumaki you speak of is not the same Naruto Uzumaki we are dealing with today." Danzo did not shout, did not scream, those words. He reached to his side and placed a folder on Hiruzen's desk. "This-" He gestured to the folder. "-folder contains two psychological analyses. One is of Naruto Uzumaki two days before his graduation from the Konohagakure Shinobi Academy and the second was taken ten days after the Second Stage of the Chunin Exams concluded in full."

"What is the point of this Danzo?" Hiruzen was a rather good multitasker as he could both read over the documents and converse with his old friend.

"You will see my point Hiruzen. Simply read." Danzo leaned back in his seat. "If you do not, then I will clarify it for you. I'm sure your old age has made some things simple in your youth rather difficult."

"The only thing age has given me is a stronger liver." Hiruzen continued to read over the first analysis, the Yamanaka behind it coming to a similar conclusion as anyone else would.

Naruto Uzumaki was far from a genius. He was impulsive, reckless, and hyperactive but was also rather crafty. He carried an intense desire for attention and used pranks to garner such a thing. He was friendly if a bit dim when it came to exactly what to say or how to act. He wore his heart on his sleeve and believed in his personal creed without fault.

"What is this supposed to tell me?" Hiruzen sat the first report down and moved on to the next. He didn't go past the first page. He flipped to the back page before moving to the first analysis and opened it to the back page. The signatures placed there, Santa Yamanaka identical. It was a man he trusted to not only work for the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force but take on vital intelligence missions. "This…this is not possible."

"Those reports tell you of two different people, correct?" Danzo did not sound proud as he spoke. "The first no doubt tells you of a boy far from a genius, impulsive, reckless, and hyperactive. He is crafty and uses pranks to gain attention from others. He is friendly and wears his heart on his sleeve, living his life by a personal creed that does not need to be repeated now." He reached for the second and wordlessly flipped it to the first page. "The second is of an unquestioned genius who is manipulative, prideful, and charismatic. He is able to draw all attention to himself with nothing but his stance and leave even his enemies questioning if he's not as powerful as he says. He is obsessive with the idea of owning things and views even people as nothing more than objects only he is allowed to possess." Danzo did not allow his friend time to think as he flipped the first analysis to the first page and showed Hiruzen the photos, the headshots identical if not for the expression. The subject of one was smiling and the other's face was blank. "Both of these analyses were performed by the same man, Santa Yamanaka, and you have never questioned his reports before. He is trusted."

"What. Is. Your. Point." Hiruzen did not look at the photos, he looked into the single visible eye of the man he called his friend.

"I have made it." Danzo leaned back in his seat, his eye never leaving Hiruzen's. He would not back down from this. "The Naruto Uzumaki we are dealing with today is completely different from the Naruto Uzumaki you saw as your son in the past. That Naruto Uzumaki is, for all intents and purposes, dead."

"No he is not." Hiruzen looked away first. He closed his eyes. "Yamanaka have been wrong before and even if he is right this means nothing. We both know the importance of keeping up a public image. How can we be sure he's not doing the same?"

"If you ask me a question like that allow me to reply in kind: How can you be so blind Sarutobi?" Danzo did not move from his seat when Killing Intent flooded the room, he pressed onward without pause. "Is it because the boy calls you Sarutobi-jiji? Are you blind because you care more for the boy who can damn this village to war than you do for your own flesh and blood? Are you afraid of seeing what you're allowing to run free once again?"

"He is not Orochimaru!" His anger bested his self-control when he allowed it to enter his voice, allowed his hands to curl into fists. "No one is as monstrous as him."

"My agents have uncovered something interesting in Waves." Danzo took a hand off his cane and reached into his robe, drawing out a bundle of photos. "Naruto has developed a passion for executing those he deem stand against him." He unbound the photos and slid them across the desk. "What exactly counts as going against him is a long list."

Hiruzen glanced down and did not allow himself to be sickened at the crosses bearing corpse after corpse. Each was more gruesome than the last, men and women, some Hiruzen recognized from Bingo Books, hanging to die. Some were lucky, a spear put through their chest while others could look at the camera, their eyes telling their suffering. Some seemed to be in the midst of begging for death.

"My agents showed them the mercy Naruto Uzumaki would not."

"Why?"

"Why? What why are you asking of me Hokage?" The title should have been spoken with respect but now there was no trace of it, almost pity in the voice of the one who spoke took hold instead. "Why am I forcing you to see the truth of that boy? Why am I forcing you to see the extent of his ambition? Why am I forcing you to think for once when it comes to the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi no Kitsune!" Anger entered his own voice. "Why am I doing all of this? The answer is another question Hiruzen and it is simple: Can you let more blood rest on your hands because of the same inaction you took more than a decade ago happening again! Can you excuse yourself of the same guilt again and ignore what you're inaction has caused once more!"

"Do not speak of that Danzo." It was all he would say. He did not speak on the true problem. He could not speak on the true problem.

"You confronted Orochimaru personally and let him escape. It is a fact that will be remembered by history." His eye, if ever so slightly, softened. He leaned forward in his seat. "Don't let history remember you twice for the same mistake Hiruzen."

Danzo Shimura rose and left the room.

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AN: Remember. AN at the end.


	31. A Sage Training A Caesar, Day 28!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full Chapter Title: A Sage Training A Caesar: Day 28!

* * *

'Dammit.' It was all the bleeding Jonin could think. His breathing was becoming more and more difficult, his basic medical skills useless for a wound like his. Blood pooled around him no matter what he did and he knew his fate.

"N-No…" Blood filled his mouth when he tried to move. Agony ripped through him, his torn body refusing to obey his will, and he could hardly drag himself forward. Blood trailed behind him in the meager distance he had managed before his strength had nearly entirely left him, the trail thick and too wide to give hope for his survival. "N-Need…H-Hokage-sama…"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's fear of an invasion was correct. Hayate Gekko had overheard the plans and had paid for such information. He had never seen an attack like whatever his attacker had used, wind had lacerated his body between rooftops as he hurried away. He had fallen to the alley below and had been left to die.

It was a miracle he had stayed alive as long as he did through sheer force of will. He hadn't even made it out the alley through. If he had the Chakra he would be content to die with a Summon on the way to the Hokage but fate was against him. His night was long, filled with Kenjutsu training that left him with too little for the Summoning Jutsu.

"Y-Yugao…" He couldn't rise. Darkness swam in his eyes the same way he saw her standing before the oncoming wave.

'Forgive me.' He couldn't stay above any longer.

His last thoughts were on his lover when the blackness rushed to claim him.

It was too early to drink to most people. The four Jonin gathered at the bar in the early morning were not like most people. The four sat together at their usual table and they had, collectively, downed more than two bottles in a fairly short amount of time. Gai refilled their glasses with the third bottle since they had sat down.

"Kakashi…do you even know what that kid is doing?" Asuma brought up the question that the Jonin had avoided in their other gatherings. Kakashi paused in speaking with Gai at his question before he shrugged his shoulders and waved his hand to the side.

"It doesn't matter even if I did." Kakashi's stare was enough to unnerve some of the best and Asuma was no exception as he shifted in his seat, glanced away from Kakashi to the drink in his hand. "I wouldn't tell you and let your student have an advantage like that."

"Don't you hate him?" Kurenai received a nod from Kakashi. "Why not make sure he fails then? He already doesn't stand much of a chance against someone like Neji."

"I have no doubt Naruto will become a Chunin." The way Kakashi spoke, the certainty that filled his stone, made no one want to question him.

"That's a great deal of faith in your student, Kakashi." Gai had drunken the most out of the four and it showed. His words were slow, as if he was considering just how to say each one, and his cheeks were tinged red from the alcohol. "I'm not so sure you should be so confa-confe-confida-sure of that boy."

"Believe me, if I thought he would die, I would be happy right now but I'm sure he'll survive." Kakashi leaned back in his seat, resting his hands behind his head. "These Chunin Exams, despite the caliber of Genin in them, won't be able to get rid of him for good. He'll be out of my hair as a Chunin but he'll still be a pain since he'll still be alive."

"You need to stop with such morbid thoughts Kakakashi." Gai didn't seem to notice the extra syllable he added to Kakashi's name and none of the Jonin wanted to point out his mistake.

A drunken Gai was a Gai prone to punching things. None of them wanted to deal with that so early in the morning. His body would deal with the alcohol quick enough and he would return to his senses in full most likely within the hour but it was still an hour no one wanted to see Gai go crazy during.

"I don't hate all of my students at least, just two-third of them." Kakashi refilled his empty glass and earned a look from both Kurenai and Asuma.

Neither could tell either how or when he had downed the entirety of its contents but he somehow had done it. All without ever removing his ever present mask.

"That's still not good." Kurenai pointed to his covered eye. "Everyone here hates Naruto but you don't even like the Uchiha with that eye of yours? I thought you would see some of him in Sasuke."

"The Uchiha I got this eye from is not only dead but Sasuke's nothing like him." Kakashi placed his hand beneath his cover eye. "For all the good qualities he had, Sasuke has only bad. He's obsessed with vengeance, crazy when it comes to power, a shoe in for future Missing-nin status, and he's loyal to Naruto to a fault."

"You should con-grab-jewel-late him Kakakashi." Gai let his head rest on the table in front of him. "Loyalty is vital to the Shinobi!" He rose a hand up over his head and gave a thumbs up. Kakashi shook his head at the sight and turned back to Kurenai and Asuma.

"Either of you two have any more questions about the kids I hate having to teach?" The way the corner of Kakashi's eye crinkled told them the correct response was silence on that front.

"What about Sa-crew-war?" Gai's mumbled voice rose from the table.

"I actually like her." Kakashi seemed to be a different person when he began to talk about the pink haired Genin. The darkness that he seemed to exclude was gone suddenly and replaced with something none of the Jonin could place. Not even Gai could pin it down when he was perfectly sober. "It's a shame she won't be able to become a Chunin this year but I'm sure she'll sweep the competition next year. Without Naruto there to be in the way she'll do fine in the Exams."

"'Be in the way'? Did I see the wrong Exams or wasn't that kid the reason she got to the preliminaries at all?" Asuma probably said the wrong thing if the death glare Kakashi gave him was any indication.

"Yes, once he stops being in the way of her I'm sure Sakura will succeed without a problem. She won't have to deal with any of his insanity and can focus on what she needs to do without having to worry about whatever he'll end up doing and whatever insanity he'll come up with excusing it." His tone brought with it no room for arguments.

'Better not to bring that up again I guess.' The three Jonin didn't know their thoughts were synchronized in that moment.

Across the village, Naruto stepped out of the gates of his fortress and found Jiraiya waiting for him.

"This is an irregularity Toad Sage. I thought you had agreed on my meeting place?" The march of his Praetorians came to a stop when he did. He looked into the eyes of the Toad Sage and saw something foreign to them within.

Hesitation. It was not towards meeting him but towards something else. An unknown to the Uzumaki.

"Caesar, has something happened?"

'So that's the Uchiha?' It was the first time Jiraiya laid eyes on Genin that the reports had identified as the second in command of Naruto's army. 'You're just like your old man.' Jiraiya didn't need to get to know the boy to know that. It was the way he stood that told him more than enough. He had slid into his role without issue and looked to thrive just like his father had.

"Nothing's happened to your boss, kid." Jiraiya stepped forward into view. He had been hardly visible to Naruto because he wanted to be seen. "I'm training him for the Chunin Exams and decided we'll start a certain bit of it early."

"I see." The Uchiha's hand had been on his sword when he stepped outside the gates and it didn't leave it. He nodded his head towards Jiraiya and placed his fist over his heart. "I have business to attend to for the Legion in your absence Caesar."

"Of course." Naruto dismissed his Praetorians with a wave of his hand, his eyes focused on the white haired Sannin. They narrowed. He at least waited until they were alone and began walking to voice the question that had truly begun to burn in his mind. "Why are you here Toad Sage?"

"Your training today needs a bit of an introduction." Jiraiya looked straight down the road. "We're going to be focused on drawing on the power of the Kyubi sealed inside of you."

"Really?" Naruto's eyes flashed with something indescribable. It almost looked like he was happy. Realization dawned on his face around the same time but both emotions were quickly suppressed behind the face of a Caesar. "I now see why Sarutobi-jiji instructed you to train me. The Kyubi is a fearsome power."

"Yeah and I'm going to be the one who teaches you how to use it." Jiraiya sighed.

'Here goes nothing.'

"You may need this kind of power sooner than you think so the training will be pretty unorthodox. I wanted to start on this last week but we didn't have the time between everything else I was teaching you. We'll need to make up for as much time as we can today." Jiraiya looked to the blonde out of the corner of his eyes. "Think you can handle it?"

"A Caesar can handle whatever task is placed before him Toad Sage."

'He doesn't know.' Jiraiya could see the lack of knowledge in his eyes, the lack of suspicion turned to realization. Naruto, with an entire army at his beck and call, knew nothing of the invasion Sarutobi feared would come sooner rather than later. 'He doesn't understand why I'm training him at all.'

Jiraiya didn't know if he should be relieved or disappointed.

'He'll do the right thing when it happens. He's got to be like his father when it comes to the village if he really wants to be Hokage.'

 _No he's not._ Jiraiya didn't let that vile whisper reach him. The same vile whisper that tried to come forth every day he spent with the blonde. He was just like his father. They looked alike, they both were geniuses, and both were able to do things thought impossible with the Jutsu they created.

'He's just like his father.'

Jiraiya laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder and pointed in the direction of their training ground.

"We'll race to the training grounds."

"You'll be disappointed when I beat you Toad Sage."

Both took off without another moment wasted.

"I knew I was forgetting something." Sasuke was alone so he allowed his palm to strike his forehead with a resounding thud. He sighed as he turned abruptly and walked back down the way he had come to his office. "I need to speak to those two about their offer. Caesar will be too busy the next two days to bother with speaking to them."

He marched back out the doors and towards the gates.

"Legate." One of the Praetorians placed there saluted him and he returned it. "You wish to leave?"

His answer was a nod and the heavy gates were swung open and Sasuke didn't waste time walking, he took to the rooftops immediately and was a blur across the village.

'I should have departed with Naruto.' In the privacy of his own thoughts he didn't need to address the blonde with any titles. 'I would probably be there by now if I did.'

" _Yes…we wanted to talk to Naruto Uzumaki on behalf of our father, the Kazekage."_ The words of the sister came to his mind unbidden.

'An invasion…it's almost insane to think Suna would attempt such a thing if it didn't make so much sense. Everything is suddenly clear knowing the Kazekage plans to attack the village.' The Uchiha could only shake his head. It had taken time to see the real reason of the Kazakage's children looking to speak to Caesar but it was clear now. Sunagakure was planning to invade during the Chunin Exams. The two wanted to know how Caesar would react for one simple reason.

They were afraid, terrified of what he represented: A wild card.

Caesar could either do nothing or commit his forces to repel the invasion. Five Cohorts were active, three away from the village and two within, but five others itched for battle, for blood. They waited to prove themselves worthy of carrying Caesar's dream and the invasion would be the perfect place. Not many knew of just how large Naruto's force was of course, many only knew he could summon various amounts at his leisure and his First and Fifth Cohorts were spread across Konoha and the Land of Fire. The Second and Fourth continued their mission and the Third maintained their position in Nami no Kuni.

It was certainly enough to make anyone who wanted to attack the village hesitant to do so. If they had even the slightest of ideas to Caesar's might, many would tremble and flock to fall under his banner. But many did not have such knowledge in the end. Many failed to understand the true force Caesar's glorious Orange Legion held.

Few understood the certainty of his dream becoming a reality.

'I still wonder what you're going to do Caesar.'Kikyo Castle was within his sight. He could spot more than a dozen Sungakure Shinobi present no doubt because the Kazekage's children had come so far in the Exams. He himself was most likely present by now as well. 'Will you defend the village like a loyal Shinobi would do without question or-'

"DAMMIT!" He slipped and hastily made to grab onto the side of the building with a Chakra laden hand. He couldn't find purchase on whatever filth coated the wall of the alley and he was lucky he had enough time to reorient himself.

"That was close." He rose from his crouch open landing but his feet refused to move. "What the h-" He shouldn't have looked down.

Blood was at his feet. The alley was replaced with a street. Corpses took their proper places. He shook his head and closed his eyes.

'I'm not there.' His free hand curled into a fist, his nails bit into his palm. He opened his eyes and the unforgettable scene was gone.

He did not look at his other hand. He took hold of the back of it with his free hand to stop the shaking. He did not care when the four fresh cuts there burned at the contact. It helped him focus on what was in front of him.

The proctor for the preliminaries was in a pool of his own blood in front of him.

So many bodies surrounded him. The alley shifted. The corpse breathed. It shouldn't but it did. It was a shuddering, gasping, pitiful thing but it breathed.

The mark Naruto had given him burned. He didn't know how but now he sat on the floor of the hospital, his hand on the chest of the man he didn't even know the name of.

"Get a doctor." He barked out an order to the Praetorians and they did not question him. They headed off as he looked at the man that was dying.

Dying. Not dead.

He wasn't like the others. He w-

"Legate." The voice of the Praefectus Castrorum tore him from thoughts he had once believed suppressed to the deep abyss of his mind, used only as a focus of his hatred and vengeance. What laid within those depths were supposed to lay unseen.

"I almost forgot Caesar stationed you here to watch over Tenten, Praefectus." Sasuke did not rise from where he crouched next to the body. He moved his hand from the chest of the ruined and bloodied Flak Jacket to the neck, finding the faint pulse there. "How is she?"

"She heals." The Praefectus dropped to the other side as two Praetorians wheeled over a stretcher. "He needs to be moved."

Sasuke did not bother speaking. A Praetorian joined both on either side of the dying man. They used the board to lift the bleeding man up and Sasuke walked with the Praetorians as they wheeled him away.

"Return to your post Praefectus." The Legate of the Orange Legion received a salute from the high ranking Praetorian before he left down the halls.

Sasuke Uchiha did not visit the two Genin from Sunagakure.

"Before we begin, I need to talk to you Naruto." The two sat across from each other on the water. Jiraiya had instructed Naruto to close his eyes and now they opened. Blue eyes that were so familiar sent him into the past. "This training is going to be some of the most challenging, beyond anything you've ever done and probably beyond anything else you'll ever do."

"Truly?" Naruto glanced down to his bare torso, the armor and clothing he wore on his upper body rested on the ground. He refused to leave his sword and it rested across his lap. "Do you believe me to be weak in spirit Toad Sage?"

"No." Jiraiya glanced into the water. "When you enter the seal, you'll have to face what's within alone. There will only be the Kyubi and there's no telling what that creature has planned. The seal that keeps it imprisoned is like no other in the world, created by the Fourth Hokage on the night the village was attacked. Only he had a chance of truly understanding it and he's dead. I have the key but it's not worth much without knowing why he chose the seal in the first place. I'll be able to monitor your condition outside and influence some things with Chakra but my help will be limited if it's even available."

"You worry for nothing Toad Sage." Naruto's voice was strangely comforting. "The machinations of the Kyubi will be of no interest to me. I do not crave its companionship or help beyond the power I will take from the creature. I am a Caesar who cannot afford to waste time with a beast locked within a cage."

"Hmm, if I didn't know you any better, I would say you were being arrogant." Jiraiya looked up from their reflections on the water and lifted his hands from his lap. "Follow my lead."

He had summoned Gerotora and looked over the key given to him for the entirety of last night. He was only up now because of a handful of Military Ration Pills he had forced down his throat. It had taken hours to begin to decipher the hand signs needed for this part of the training but it was well worth it.

As Naruto mirrored him, just like their reflections did below, a darkness spread from his belly button to consume his stomach. It was like a black ooze that never rose past his skin but took shape.

'So that's the Eight Trigrams Seal…' Symbols spread from the seal, up and around Naruto's torso. He saw an almost inscription appear across both arms, a meaning he slowly deciphered even as his body continued to form the necessary seals and Naruto copied him flawlessly.

If he didn't know any better, he would have thought the boy had gotten himself a Sharingan somehow.

At last, he came to the last seal but he paused.

"Remember what I said." He needed to be sure before he sent Naruto to confront the Kyubi. "The Kyubi is manipulative by nature and is almost impossible to predict. It is a creature that can manipulate you without you even realizing it. Remember why you're there and don't listen to anything but your gut."

"I will not fall to my prisoner Toad Sage." Determination burned in Naruto's eyes and Jiraiya felt his fears leave him.

"Alright then." He and Naruto formed the last seal simultaneously.

Naruto's eyes almost immediately widened as blackness took hold of his eyes. His mouth opened in a silent scream before his entire body seemed to lock up. He was the picture of calm a moment later, his eyes closed and head bowed with his breathing perfectly even.

Jiraiya brought his hands together then, each of his fingertips burning with white flames on one hand and black flames on the other. Five tags he had placed beneath the water rose from the depths burning with white Chakra. Strands of said Chakra moved from their sides and from the face of the seal, arching and all five connected above Naruto's head as they formed a ring around him.

"The Five Element Seal? Impressive." The voice behind him didn't surprise him. Neither did the growing wooden platform enclosing both Shinobi on the water.

"No." Five more tags emerged between the five already present and the process was repeated but this time with black Chakra added to the cage, ten strands of Chakra meeting in the middle. "That wouldn't hold him if he loses control for even a moment. This is something the Fourth Hokage thought up. The Five Element Seal is the basis but comparing it and this is like comparing the Academy Clone Technique to the Shadow Clone Technique. They're hardly similar."

"Indeed." Totems rose form the wooden platforms topped with foo dog heads and burning wicks. "Forgive me for being cautious Jiraiya-dono."

Jiraiya was silent. His eyes drifted close as he began a low chanting, his hands moving through dozens of seals at speeds few could match.

He was being just as cautious it seemed.

Within the seal, Naruto stood before barred gates.

"Uzumaki." Red eyes burned with malice from within. The name was spoken with hate, pure and simple hate at the boy that stood before the being of Chakra.

"Kyubi." He was answered with a sneer, blue eyes shined with a savage glee at the sight before them. "How has your great might faired in battle with my glorious Legion?"

"Uzumaki." Pain shined the same as hate within the red eyes before him. The beast was wounded.

"I see you have fallen like all others. You thought yourself my better when my Ninth Cohort was lost in this seal but you were wrong. My forces are too great for you to ever dream of triumphing against them. My Tenth Cohort proved wiser when they did not attack you but created a bastion you could not overcome. My Ninth, those who survived, returned wiser and they thirsted for vengeance." A banner hung on both sides of the gate Naruto stood before, one displayed the sign of his Ninth Cohort and the other his Tenth. Both were arrayed on either side in full, their centurions present at the front. "You were blinded by your prior victory and fell to my restored might when my Legion unleashed their fury upon you."

Naruto had nothing to fear of the Kyubi. The beast was chained to the ground. It could not move without agony and knew it. If it attempted to lunge at him, it would draw the chains around its neck tight. If it attempted to use its claws, the limb would be on the verge of being severed. If it attempted to snap its jaws at him, it would find itself muzzled. Even its tails were restrained, chains binding them in nearly their entirety. The great tails that were said to crush mountains, spawn hurricanes, were rendered immobile.

"Now." Naruto laid a hand on the gate of the seal and closed his eyes. "A Caesar requires your Chakra beast."

He drew his hand back and the beast roared.

Naruto opened red eyes.

* * *

AN: Nothing here.


	32. The Day Before the Finals!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter Title: The Day Before the Finals

* * *

"Caesar once more sends his apologies for not being able to come to see you personally in the past month." Sasuke stood before Tenten's bed, the girl more lucid than normal mainly because he had ordered her medication be reduced for the day. He refused to speak to someone who would not even remember the conversation. "His presence has been requested by the Hokage this morning but he will be arriving at some point in the future today to speak with you."

"So he sends you in his place?" Despite the pain it no doubt caused, Tenten snorted and rolled her eyes. "I feel honored. I thought for a second he'll only send more of his Praetorians for company."

"I've been told I have that type of effect on people. As for your 'company', they are here for your protection above all else." Sasuke moved over to a chair placed at her bedside and dropped into it. "I'm sure you know why I'm really here so I won't waste your time with pointless niceties."

"I never expected you to." Tenten did not bother trying to turn her head to get a clearer picture of the somewhat blur that sat in the corner of her eyes. The doctor had told her to keep her movements to a minimum today for good reason. The sharp spikes of pain that ripped through her body the moment she tried to move more than the act of simply laying down required was enough for her to take his words to heart. Medical-nin would be arriving later to continue healing her as best they could.

"Before the Finals begin, Caesar wants to know if you desire Gaara of the Sand to suffer before he kills him for doing this to you." Sasuke's Sharingan observed Tenten without her notice. The chair was placed where it was for a reason. "It is no secret the men of his Legion adore you. The death of Gaara is inevitable but he wishes to know if you wish for anything specific."

"I want to do it myself." Sasuke was glad he was mostly hidden from her sight. He didn't want to deal with a girl like Tenten, her eyes enough to rival his own from her training, seeing his shock.

"Are you that certain you'll be healed?" He quickly schooled his features.

"Naruto promised to heal me, right?" She actually smiled. "I can wait for however long it takes as long as I get to give him a taste of his little obsession with blood when I force his down his throat."

'Maybe she should have remained drugged.'

"Caesar is a man of his word." Sasuke rose from his chair as he spoke. It was suddenly uncomfortable. He moved to stand in front of Tenten's bed instead. "Is that what you really wish for?"

"Yes." The resolution in her eyes, the determination that shined in them, made him understand why the Legion cared for the girl he had only ever met right now.

'It's her eyes.' He was staring into eyes that looked the same as those of Caesar. It was no wonder the Legion adored her with eyes like that. 'This could be dangerous.' He could always see past adoration through.

Adoration had let his heart be torn out on a night he would like to forget but never could. Adoration had let him be rendered powerless to the man he had sworn to kill since then. Adoration would never blind him from seeing threats like that again.

He was certain of it now. Tenten Ken was a threat to the Uzumaki Empire and the Orange Legion. It was his duty as Legate to end such problems.

"Should we go try and see him again?" The two Genin from Sunagakure had ceased their last minute training for the finals, Kankuro's Crow drawn back and Temari's fan folded and driven into the ground in front of her. She had been the one to voice the question that had filled both their minds for nearly the entire month.

"I don't know about you but I never want to go to that place again." He shivered. "Those clones…they were always watching us. I liked meeting that Uchiha more. We at least knew he was watching us the entire time."

"We need an answer from him before the finals. We need to go back." Temari looked into the polished surface of her fan, smudges from her hold on it clear to her eyes. "You saw what he could do in the Forest of Death and you saw him take on Zaku like it was nothing. He wasn't as strong as us but he wasn't some pushover after that surgery. We need to know what he's going to do."

"And what does it even change when we have It loose in the middle of the village?" Kankuro wouldn't admit to the fear that shot down his spine the moment he mentioned the weapon. "So what if he can summon an army? We have a monster on our side."

"That doesn't matter you idiot!" Temari drew her fan out of the ground. "Don't you see what he can do? Didn't you hear about what happened to Gato? How angry father was when he heard about it? He can throw every plan we made into chaos."

"Gato wasn't a Shinobi." Kankuro didn't sound as confident as he knew he should. "He hired enough and paid plenty but we all knew he would be dead sooner or later with the way he acted."

"What about what he's doing there? He has his army there and all reports show its growing every day!" He wished she didn't mention that. You'd have to be dead not to know what was happening in Waves.

"Just drop it already Temari." Kankuro turned away from her, Crow moving to hang its body on his back with a twitch of his fingers as he began walking away. "We don't need to talk to him anymore. We don't need to worry about anything. We have the perfect plan, we have the perfect time, and we have the perfect weapon to start everything. We don't need to think about some kid who has an army. We have It."

"Kankuro." It wasn't his name that stopped him midstep, it was the way his sister spoke it. Her voice was empty of the anger that had tinged it, the worry that had been there just a moment ago, the near panic she had been feeling thanks to a growing anxiety both of them would never admit to sharing. It was empty beyond one thing that he never thought his older sister would have.

She was afraid.

He should just ignore it and keep walking.

He knows he should just ignore it and keep walking.

He wants to take the next step, tries all he can to just move one foot in front of the other, but he can't.

His sister, the only member of his family he actually cared for even if he would never admit it, needed him.

"Kankuro, can you at least answer one question for me? If you do, I promise I'll drop this." She was speaking again. He should walk away but he didn't, he couldn't. He only gave her a terse nod. Crow's head moved with his own. "Are you as afraid as I am?"

"I don't see why I should be. We're not even going to be the focus once everything really starts." He was going to ramble. He knew it. "The Kazekage will be there too. Once we set off the weapon he's going to start and we've both seen him in action. This place isn't going to last long enough for anything to happen to either of us. We've got each other too. We can get out with Baki and be safe and sound far away before anything major happens. So what if this place has some powerful fighters? We'll be fine. What's going to happen? We're going to be followed by the Genin? We can kill any but a few of the stronger ones and they'll be gone. Their heirs to clans after all, they'll be running from It and the Kazekage won't be able to s-"

He didn't know when she moved but she must have to turn him around. Crow must have fallen off his shoulder because he lost his focus, when he nodded his head he must have knocked it off. It wasn't because he was shaking. It wasn't because he was scared out of his mind of dying in the chaos he would be so close to. He wasn't scared at all.

He didn't need his sister to hug him like this. He didn't need to hug his sister like he was.

He wasn't scared of anything. He wasn't terrified of what could happen to him in the carnage, he wasn't scared that It would be loose, and he wasn't worried that his own father probably didn't give a damn about him.

"It's okay if you are Kankuro. I am too."

He didn't need his big sister. He didn't need the closest thing he had to a mother.

He was fine.

"You know…when I said I was paying, I never thought you would invite everyone." Kakashi glanced at the Genin gathered at the table with his sole visible eye, talking and laughing without a single worry. He shrugged his shoulders. "That's hindsight I guess."

"Indeed my rival." Gai stood with the silver haired Jonin. "Hindsight is indeed quite the adversary to us all."

"You don't need to be here if you don't want to Gai." Kakashi could catch on to one of his oldest friend's distraction. It was also obvious. "You can go to Tenten if you want."

"She is heavily medicated to rest as she prepares for tomorrow." Gai's smile was gone the moment he began to think on his student's condition. "She also spoke with one of your students today."

"Naruto was at the hospital?"

"No, his second in command paid Tenten a visit."

"Is she alright?"

"She is as alright as she can be given the circumstances but I managed to overhear their conversation." Gai sighed. He looked at Kakashi with eyes that didn't belong to the normally energetic Jonin. He was conflicted, trapped between the danger known as Naruto Uzumaki and his love for his student. "She believes in your student Kakashi. She does not seem to have any doubt that he can't heal her like he promised to do."

"You need to talk to her Gai, tell her to stop listening to Naruto. I don't know why but he's lying to her for whatever reason. All I know is that it can't be good."

"You're not unbiased towards all this Kakashi."

"I'm being realistic. You heard what the doctors at the hospital said, read the same medical reports you showed me, and we both saw the state she was in. There's doubt even a legendary medic like Tsunade could heal Tenten if she returned to the village. How is he supposed to do it when he doesn't even have a tenth of her experience, half her knowledge, or a fraction of her skills?"

"He seems to be a fast learner."

The conversation between the two Jonin wasn't heard by the Genin that had gathered for a celebration before the Chunin Exams were to start. They were focused on their own merriment. The growing conflict between Jonin could be ignored just like the future was.

"I still can't believe you're walking after the training you did Lee. I wouldn't be able to do anything but sleep for a week if I had to do even half of that stuff." Shikamaru sat next to the older Genin who only responded with a thumbs up and a smile.

"My Ninja Way drives me to push past my limits every day. Training is just another limit to push past to better oneself as Gai-sensei would say." Lee returned to his food, his appetite massive, as the lazy Nara only shook his head.

"I can still hardly believe it." He returned to his own plate, miniscule when compared to the two on either side of him. Lee and Choji seemed to either be having an eating contest or both simply had massive appetites that put everyone else's to shame. Most of the table combined could hardly match half of how much either of the two boys ate.

"So, Sakura, you've been training with Kakashi all month, right?" Ino sat next to the pink haired girl and received a shy nod. She hadn't been prepared to see so many people and she didn't think her presence was that wanted among them.

Her teammates were noticeable absent after all.

"So, you have to tell us, Asuma-sensei would beat Kakashi right?" Ino had been the one to drag her into the conversations going on around the two.

"I don't think Kakashi-sensei would go that easy on Asuma even if he asked him to." She was coming out of her shell at last. "Kakashi-sensei would definitely win."

"No way!" Ino's smile told her she wasn't upset. "Asuma-sensei is one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja and the son of the Third Hokage, no matter what Kakashi tried he couldn't beat him."

"He knows just as many Jutsu as the Third Hokage does and he's one of the smartest Jonin in the world. Asuma won't beat Kakashi-sensei."

"Ino has a point." Shikamaru agreed with Ino when she glanced over to him with a look in her eyes he had learned to dread over the past month. "Asuma-sensei can take us on and we have some pretty powerful Jutsu when we work together, at least close to some of the stronger ones Kakashi uses. If he can take us down without breaking a sweat, he'll be able to take on Kakashi and win."

"What do you think Neji?" Sakura turned to one of the two Hyuga at the table, sat right next to her actually, and his pale eyes focused on her for a moment. A ghost of a smile played across his face.

"Gai would beat both of them." Neji turned back to his food without another word.

"And then Kurenai-sensei would beat both of them!" Kiba threw in his own opinion and Shino nodded along with the loud Inuzuka.

"K-Kurenai-sensei is one of the best Genjutsu users in the village." Hinata looked across the table to her teammates from where she sat next to Neji. "She would be able to beat them without any of them knowing she was even there."

"Kakashi-sensei has his Sharingan. He can see through any Genjutsu."

"Doesn't change the fact that Asuma-sensei is stronger than him! He'll beat him even with his Sharingan out."

"Gai-sensei would triumph over any foe! If he could not, I would perform five thousand pushups on top of the Hokage Monument while proclaiming so all may hear: 'Gai-sensei's youthful flames have died!'."

"Kurenai-sensei would be victorious. Why? Because she is one of the strongest Jonin in the village."

"HA!" An unwelcomed presence was suddenly at the door. They were thrown open during the good natured argument and two figures stepped inside. One remained at the door, rose a fist over an armored heart and bowed his head as the other continued forward. He rose his arms out to his side, a mocking smile crossing his face. "You all speak of such nonsensical things. All of it is not even fit to be fiction to entertain a babe."

Naruto Uzumaki's eyes traveled around the table before his vision was filled with Kakashi's Flak Jacket.

"Yo." He rose two fingers in greeting. His eye focused on Naruto with nothing in it. "What are you doing here?"

"I am not here to dine with company such as this Silver Fang." Naruto did not bother doing anything but crossing his arms over his armored chest. His Praetorians were outside from the shouts that came from people who found their path blocked and several more figures entered the restaurant after him.

The Legate stood at his side after he must have finished giving his orders at the door. The Centurion of the First Cohort looked around the restaurant with a curious eye. The Centurion of the Fifth Cohort came to stand at Naruto's side opposite the Legate. All three laid a hand on their swords and their eyes watched the Jonin closely. The Praefectus Castrorum remained by the door, his back to the restaurant.

"If you're not here to eat than you don't need to be here." Kakashi didn't move from in front of the blonde despite the very real possibility of any of the others with him drawing their swords.

"Do you honestly believe you can command me to do anything I do not already wish for, Silver Fang?" Naruto did not step away. He took a step closer actually. "Get out of my way or you will be removed."

"I would move if I could but a black cat crossed the floor behind me a while back." Kakashi yawned underneath his mask. "If anyone's going to move, it's you."

"A Caesar does not retreat." The two silently stared at each other. Neither would be moving anytime soon because neither planned to move for the other. "Step aside or I will be forced to show you the fruits of my training with the Toad Sage."

"Jiraiya-sama taught you?" Kakashi's visible eyebrow rose. "I guess I should be worried about you being a pervert like him now?"

"I would never fall to such foolishness. I am no cretin like so many others who falls so easily to the pleasures of the flesh." Naruto showed his first true emotion since arriving with the disgust that crossed over his face at the mere thought of copying the less desirable habits of the Toad Sage, habits he had kept in check during his training. "Such actions are pathetic and far beneath a Caesar such as myself."

"Well-"

"Giving yourself titles won't change what will happen to you Naruto Uzumaki." Neji interrupted whatever Kakashi was going to say. "You won't go past the first rounds in the Chunin Exams."

"You think too highly of yourself Hyuga." Naruto sneered at the pale eyes Genin. He lifted one hand towards where Sasuke stood at his side. "Whatever you may say of your eyes, I know of a Dojutsu far stronger than the Byakugan could ever hope to be. My history is quite clear, it was the Uchiha and Senju and not the Hyuga that were the strongest clans and founded this village. Your eyes are nothing compared to the eyes my Legate possess."

"You honor me with such words Caesar." Sasuke's Sharingan appeared in the blink of his eyes. They focused on the Hyuga just as the Byakugan appeared in his own. "Do you wish to fight me again Hyuga or have you forgotten how our last contest ended?"

"I remember you being a coward and summoning an army to fight me." Neji rose from his seat. His eyes were only for the Uchiha. "Do you want to see how fate would have ended that battle now Uchiha?"

"I have no problem killing you Hyuga but that is an honor reserved for Caesar. I would not dare to intrude on his right to make you suffer." Naruto's eyebrows rose. Sasuke's words seemed to be the first time he had heard of his opponent in the Chunin Exams.

"I am fighting the Hyuga?" Naruto sounded disappointed. He received a nod from his Legate when he turned to him. "I expected my opponent to be Sunagakure's Jinchuriki. The Hokage brought me to his office, gave me the Toad Sage as my instructor, and asked of the fruits of my training this day for the Hyuga? He dares to think I required any aid when it came to defeating a boy like him?"

Naruto brought a hand up to his forehead and his shoulders dropped when he sighed.

"My focus is leaving the true reason I am here the longer I allow your fools to spew your pointless drivel." Naruto drew his hand away and leveled two fingers at Sakura. "Sakura-chan, things I have not had the time for during my training can be managed now. Your dealings with Silver Fang will cease."

"Who do you think you are ordering her around?" Ino rose out of her seat, blocking Sakura from Naruto's sight and he let his hand fall. He folded his arms over his chest and smoke enshrouded where Sakura sat.

"Step away." Blades were drawn from the soldiers of the Orange Legion suddenly behind Sakura as she clutched at the mark on her arm. It burned bright red as Naruto looked at the scene with red slit eyes. He ignored them all in favor of focusing on Sakura alone.

"Your attempts to weaken my gift were worthless Sakura-chan." A vile Chakra leaked from Naruto in that moment. It was like nothing any of them had ever felt but it was painfully familiar to the Jonin. The night they had felt that Chakra run wild in the air, powerless to do anything but watch, was forever ingrained into their minds.

'The Kyubi.' All four of them thought together and they could barely keep themselves from moving. They did not attack the reminder of the nightmarish night of over a decade ago. They somehow controlled themselves and didn't kill the Jinchuriki that flaunted that same power now.

'He came here just for this.' Naruto was no fool. He knew he was not well liked among his fellow Genin but he seemed to want a confrontation. He merely wanted an excuse to give them all a taste of his power, show them all how hopeless challenging him had become before the finals of the Chunin Exams.

He simply wanted them all to know the results of his training.

"Come with me Sakura-chan." Naruto stepped forward, ignored the looks sent his way by the Jonin, the barely withheld Killing Intent, and stopped next to a shaking Sakura. His red eyes held nothing, indistinguishable from his normal blue in that regard. His voice was the same. He demanded obedience to his every whim. He expected nothing less. "We have much to speak about."

He held out his hand.

Sakura did not look away from the ground when she took it. She did not look at any of the others as she slowly rose from her seat at Naruto's gentle urgings. She could not stand to see the disgust they all no doubt had for her as Naruto walked with her towards the door.

"Sakura." Kakashi stopped the two from leaving in the end. He only spoke her name, his hands in his pockets.

"Silver Fang." Naruto spoke the name he had given the Jonin with a growl and his red eyes looked into the single eye of Kakashi as Sasuke walked up behind him.

"It time for our departure." Kakashi's eyes widened when Sasuke laid a hand on Naruto's back and the same seal he had used to summon the army let them all vanish.

'Reverse Summoning.' Kakashi could only curse his own carelessness. He didn't bother making a pointless lunge towards Sakura. He already knew where they were going, where the entire part of Naruto's army he had summoned was going. He didn't let his rage blind him as he turned and began walking from the restaurant.

"This isn't good." Asuma was already following after him. The other two Jonin exchanged a look before Gai stepped towards the silent Genin and Kurenai followed after Asuma.

He would keep the Genin from following. The less they saw of what Kakashi would do to Naruto the better. He had seen the rage burning in his rival's eye and could only hope he knew when to stop.

"What do you want Naruto?" She pulled her hand away after the disorienting experience of whatever technique Naruto had used to abruptly move them to the Uchiha district.

"I simply wish to speak to you Sakura-chan, help you remain safe as you know I desire." Naruto's eyes returned to their normal blue in the blink of an eye. He moved a hand through his hair, smoothing it back after his method of travel had regressed it into its previous unkempt style. "You must know that by now Sakura-chan."

"The only thing I know is that you've taken me to…the Uchiha district and expect me to thank you." Sakura stepped back from Naruto but he stepped forward, keeping her from creating any distance.

"Seeing your beauty unmarred is thanks enough Sakura-chan." One hand reached out to her and she jerked her head away. Naruto's hand stilled for a moment before he retracted it and a smile crossed his face.

"Don't look at me like that." Sakura turned away from him, crossed her arms over her chest.

"I will do as I please." An edge entered his voice and Sakura knew he was in front of her.

"Naruto." She tried to step past him but couldn't.

"You still do not understand how things work, Sakura-chan but I will be kind enough to inform you, remove the unfitting stain of ignorance you hold." He grabbed hold of her wrist. He kept her from leaving the territory he had claimed for his own without question, leave his all-seeing sight within such a place. "You have had the audacity to disgrace my Legion with defeat, to believe yourself as one able to disobey me, a Caesar of the Uzumaki Empire and Praetor of the Orange Legion, without consequence." His grip tightened but she didn't allow the pain to show. "I must tell you how dangerous such a belief is."

"Naruto, let go of me. I want to leave." Her eyes met his. They did not turn away from the blue eyes of a madman. They held firm and something came to those eyes. The madness within was suppressed, forced away to the depths where it stayed. They did not soften, his eyes themselves seemed to wear a mask instead. They took on the guise of sanity to all who hadn't already seen what lurked underneath like a shark craving the blood it could smell in the water.

"I am ordering you to stay." A soft smile crossed his face, an attempt to be charming but it failed. She had already seen what lurked beneath, what he hid behind speeches and smiles. It was enough to leave her feeling nothing but disgusted of him, of the hand that held her. "But, ignoring your actions so far, do you not want to deliver your belated thanks to me Sakura-chan? Did you not see how I gave you the keys to a glorious victory you squandered with such folly as compassion for a foe?"

"I said let go of me. I'm leaving." She pulled against him, looking away from those eyes that showed nothing but layer after layer of falsehoods, all designed to hide the truth that laid buried beneath. The true Naruto was deranged beneath all the masks he wore. She knew that with a certainty now.

She did not see the fury that crossed his face but she did feel it. His grip on her arm became tighter, not enough to bruise but it was enough to gain her attention when he did so.

"You arrogant girl!" He did not scream those words at her but instead he whispered them with madness taking hold of his voice. He pressed her against the wall, a maniacal gleam taking hold of his eyes. His face drew close to her, emerald eyes wide as she saw the blonde in a way she had never seen him before, saw something in his eyes that made her shiver. "You dare, you honestly dare, to think you may question me? You dare to think you can disobey me?"

"You. Are. Mine." A hand, a claw, took hold of her face and forced her to meet crimson eyes. "You would be nothing if not for me, if not for my Legion. You would be dead if I did not assign you a guard of such loyalty that they would gladly throw themselves upon any blade, you would be as harmless as an insect if I did not give you training, and you would be of no interest to anyone if not for my presence. If you were not of such interest to me you would be thrown into the gutter by the fools who oppose my right to rule! You are made into something only because I have called your beauty as a thing belonging to my sight only. You are of interest to so many because I have shown you as a prize unobtainable by any of the fools who are no better than filthy mutts."

His grip was suddenly gone, replaced by his fingers slowly trailing down her cheek, blue eyes returning as his face softened.

"Do not cry my sweet Sakura-chan, I speak such harsh words, I tell you these things I wish I did not have to, because I worry for you. I seek to preserve you while Silver Fang, the vile dog he is, seeks to see you destroyed by his hands. He seeks to hurt you, tarnish your wonderful beauty with marks that will not heal, because he finds himself envious of the one who has such a great love for you. He sees my power, he sees my wealth, he sees my accomplishments, and he is driven mad by them, rabid like a hound. He does not want to help you, he only wants to hurt you because he knows doing so will strike at me as well. He cares not for you but for the pain he can deliver upon me through you."

His hand trailed down, left her flesh to lay over his armored heart.

"He cannot strike me anywhere but where I am most vulnerable, where my heart is unarmored to the grief you being taken from me would bring."

"Do not make me endure such pain."

She shouldn't even bother listening to him. He was insane.

"Naruto…"

"I love you Sakura-chan. Know this no matter what shadows doubt may cast."

He drew close. Her eyes hardened. Her hands balled into fists.

'No more.' She felt something break. Both physically and literally when her punch met Naruto's jaw.

"Caesar!"

Naruto hit the unforgiving ground and he didn't stop, her punch had enough force to send him rolling. He only reached such a point because his Praetorians were frozen where they stood. Their minds could not even begin to comprehend what their eyes had seen. They could not begin to fathom the sight before them. None of them could understand why Sakura-chan had struck Caesar. Only Sasuke raced forward and dropped to a knee next to the now groaning blonde. One of the blonde's hands rested on his face now, Naruto's blue eyes bleeding into red. Sakura didn't stay and see him get up or even bother with humoring whatever speech he would give her. She tore off the armor that had been forced on her without turning to look at him.

She had never thought a single breath could feel so good. Or punching someone in the face could make her feel so great. She thought her day was ruined thanks to him but it was the opposite. She had never felt so liberated since the day Kakashi had passed Team 7.

'That was priceless.'

She couldn't wait to tell Kakashi all about it.

She should have looked back as she ran from the Uchiha district, eager to tell her teacher of what she had done. If she did, she would have hurried back with the Jonin.

"That…" His entire body was tense, his rage consumed him. The Chakra of the Kyubi leaked from his flesh and his Legate stepped away. "That…" His voice never rose above a whisper as his Praetorians at last moved forward and fell to a knee before him. The Legate did not join them. He only stared at Naruto. "That…" Words did not do his rage justice, rage was truly a poor term for what he felt at the moment. His being was consumed by malice, the piece of himself he had foolishly exposed expelled with hate taking its place.

No. It wasn't hate. Hate was nothing to what he now felt. Hate was like comparing the light of a match to the light of the sun hidden by the night. Hate did not do the growing blackness in his heart justice. Hate was nothing to what he now felt for what he had once loved, once he had once strived to own like all other things in the world. Hate could not compare to what he now felt.

It could not be named. Disgust, betrayal, loathing, rage, hatred, and so much more was what made up the blackness that took hold of him in that moment. It tore away the rawness that covered his heart, hardened it, and he could at last vocalize.

"THAT BITCH!"

* * *

AN: Nothing yet.


	33. The Final Stage Begins

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter Title: The Final Stage Begins!

* * *

"Finally." The day of bloodshed had at last come. He had waited for a month and now his patience would be rewarded. Mother screeched every night, screamed for blood, and at last could satisfy her. It didn't matter who as long as the streets ran with blood. All that mattered was the blood of everyone in the village.

He would kill everyone and Mother would finally be happy.

His mind would quiet, be filled with silence.

He could at last rest.

"N-Neji." Hinata stopped him on his way out. He looked up from finishing wrapping his hand in bandages to the barely standing girl. Hina was nowhere in sight.

"You need to return to your room Hinata." He stepped forward but she didn't retreat. She grabbed hold of the doorframe to keep herself standing.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck." Her eyes remained on the floor. "I-I know you'll become a Chunin but…"

"Fate has decided the outcome of today already Hinata." Neji stopped in front of her, offering his arm. "You need to return to bed. The Clan will travel with you to the stadium later."

"I didn't want you to leave without having the chance to talk." She took his arm and he began walking her back to her room. "I-I know what you did to Yoroi during the Exams."

"I beat him." He looked into her eyes and saw the Byakugan. He came to a stop. "Hi-"

"I can do the same to you." She laid a hand on his chest. Neji searched for the familiar nervous and fearful Hinata but he couldn't find her. He found nothing that would let him see the Hinata before him was the same Hinata that had been pushed around by the clan. The hand she held to his heart was proof enough to that. "Don't hurt Naruto-kun."

She walked away from him and closed the door to her room. Neji stood frozen for a moment before he turned back towards the door.

'He's gotten into her head.' He was certain of it now. When he had gone to sleep the night before, he didn't know what he would be doing in his match with Naruto Uzumaki but now he knew. He no longer held any doubts to what needed to be done. He would kill Naruto Uzumaki for Hinata. No matter what she believed about herself, he could beat her if she tried to take retribution. 'You'll thank me for this one day Hinata.'

He was certain she would.

"Shino, wait a moment." Shibi stopped his son at the door. Four members of his Clan were at the door, set to accompany the boy to the arena in lieu of his father. "I have something I want to give you."

"If it's a gift it can wait until after the Chunin Exams father." Shino's stance was identical to his father save for the tilt of his head, he had to look up to look into his father's covered eyes. Both their hands were placed in the pockets of their jackets and both stood in a way that hid their anxiety.

"If that's what you want." Shibi moved forward regardless before crouching down and wrapping a single arm around the boy. "Good luck son. If all goes well today, I'll be able to attend the end of the Exams."

Shibi, along with several Aburame, were to head away from the village and create a sensor net under ANBU protection. It was mainly to clear the worry the aged Hokage felt of a possible invasion during the Exams. Most saw it was pointless because the odds of an invasion were slim to none with Konohagakure's Shinobi roster bolstered with some of its strongest at the moment. Jiraiya of the Sannin was among them at the moment even. An invasion would be suicide for anyone foolish enough to try to many.

Shibi had volunteered to quiet any objections to wasted manpower.

It was better to have wasted time than be surprised by an invasion.

"I'll see you then father." Shibi watched his son leave. He didn't notice the kikaichu his father had planted on him.

'Just in case, it is better to plan for the worst.' He turned to the other three Aburame Clan members that would be moving with him.

"Let's move out."

Four figures moved towards the gates at dizzying speeds to meet with their ANBU escort and five figures walked to the stadium the Chunin Exams would be held in.

Their ANBU escort made sure they never made it.

"I can't believe you're complaining about sleep now." Team Asuma walked to the arena together. Ino rolled her eyes as Shikamaru dragged his feet every step of the way, an almost visible trench dug by his sandals behind the four.

"It's too early to be up." Shikamaru rubbed at his eyes with one hand, the other hanging limp at his side. His entire form was slouched. "Why can't the finals happen later?"

"Any later and it'll be night and you'll try to say they happen too late." Asuma dropped his burned down cigarette to the ground. "The Exams start later in the day anyway, the Hokage just wants all the participants there early."

"This is such a drag."

"And you're a literal one!"

"Tenten!" Lee raced forward, a hand from Gai hardly stopping him from barreling into the wheelchair bound bun haired Genin.

"Easy Lee, your youthful passion is commendable but Tenten's doctor was very clear." Gai dropped his hand back to the handles and moved Tenten forward at a slow pace. "She can attend the Finals but-"

"We both heard the doctor Gai-sensei." Tenten rolled her eyes from where she sat before she smiled at Lee. "It's not like he could stop me even if he tried from cheering you on Lee."

"I am incredibly grateful for such a thing Tenten!" Lee bowed to his teammate. When he rose up, his eyes held an unreadable thing within. "I promise you this Tenten, Gaara will pay for what he did to you with the spilling of his own blood and his broken body."

"That's so sweet of you Lee."

"Temari, Kankuro." The voice of their father stopped the two from leaving. The two turned and saw Baki standing behind his shoulder like he usually was in the village. He held the Kazekage's hat in his hands and eyes like his son's froze them in place. There was nothing in them. "Remember your mission."

"Of course Father." Both bowed to him.

"You're dismissed." He turned away and placed the hat on his head. "Take the weapon with you when you leave. I made sure It's already outside."

"Of course Father." Neither let their fear show when they rose.

"Caesar." As usual for the past month, the Legate awaited him outside his quarters. "Shall we depart to the stadium?"

"Yes." Naruto adjusted his sword at his side and his helmet laid under his arm on the opposite side. "We have a Chunin Exams to win Legate."

"I look forward to meeting you in battle in the Finals, Caesar."

"I as well Legate."

The two left the Uchiha district with only the other for company. No Praetorians accompanied Naruto. None were even in the Uchiha district. A host comparable to a skeleton crew kept the center of his burgeoning Empire under watch.

"Hokage-sama." A dozen ANBU stood in front of the aged Hokage, arranged in two rows. "The participants of the Chunin Exams have arrived. The Kazekage is set to arrive soon as well."

"Rasa-san will arrive early no doubt." He turned and walked out the door, his shadow growing as he was followed. Other shadows spread down his path, watched for others and found none. There was nothing beyond their shadows.

It worried them.

They waited for an attack, for an irregularity, and found nothing. The walk to the stadium went perfectly. Nothing happened.

'It's too peaceful.' It was the unanimous thoughts of them all.

Now they simply had to wait for the other shoe to drop. They just had to hope they were ready.

The Hokage was correct. In a few short minutes, the Kazekage arrived. He was roughly half an hour ahead of schedule. His own guard spread across the room, took up their discussed positions and did nothing else. They hardly seemed to even be breathing but that was to expected from Suna Shinobi. They were disciplined. Many believed they would turn their blades on themselves if their Kazekage ordered it.

"Hiruzen-san. It is an honor to meet you." Rasa came to a stop before the Hokage and before their seats for the Chunin Exams.

"The same to you Rasa-san." Hiruzen turned to where the participants had gathered. "The gathered potential here is incredible as always."

"I have no doubt with so many Konoha Genin advancing through the Second Stage and the preliminaries I heard you hosted." Rasa joined him. His eyes focused on one above the others.

'So that's the boy I've heard so much about. I can see why.' Rasa focused on the boy and would not deny what he felt. 'This must be what it feels like to see a Kage in the making.' The boy stood like a leader, stood like one who was destined to stand above all others. He was everything one could hope for in a successor to the title of Kage. 'He is just as dangerous as I feared.' The reports underestimated him, downplayed his danger, and the authors would be punished. They were fools who allowed the 'Self' to come before the 'Whole'. Their personal pride did not matter when it came to the village itself. 'He needs to die.'

His decision made, Rasa focused on the Hokage.

"I've heard it is customary for the hosting village's Kage to give a speech to the prospective Chunin." Rasa swung one arm out to the Genin. "Do you believe now is the time, Hiruzen-san?" Now was the time. His movement, any movement from a Kage truly, drew the attention of the gathered participants onto the two of them.

"I believe it is the perfect time." Hiruzen stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"It is a tremendous honor for me to welcome all of you participants to the end of the Chunin Exams. The Third and Final Stage is set to begin within mere hours and all of your futures shall be known before the day is over with. The promotion to the rank of Chunin is a rigorous and difficult process you all have nearly completed and have thus shown that you are deserving of the rank. You have shown the ability to gather intelligence, travel through hostile lands under threat, and display combat skills above your rank. All of you have the ability to become Chunin and thus you're performance in the Final Stage will be judged in full. From the moment you've entered this arena to the moment the judges come to a decision, you are under observation. Those who showcase the traits and skills of a Chunin and those who do not will be judged accordingly. I wish you all the best of luck today and in your future as Shinobi of both Konohagakure and Sunagakure."

His rather short speech finished, the Hokage turned to his seat and sat down. He gestured to the one next to him.

"There is some time before the Exams are to begin, let us sit for the moment Rasa-san."

The two Kage sat together and spoke on things that bore no meaning whatsoever.

"Hmm." Naruto turned his eyes away from where the two Kage sat. "Legate, what are the matches?" His voice was loud intentionally of course. The other Genin looked to him, some made it less noticeable than others, and the Uchiha seemed to think for a moment.

"Forgive me for any inaccuracies Caesar, I have not looked upon this list in some time with my other duties taking precedent." Sasuke's Sharingan snapped to Ino and she couldn't completely control herself. She flinched before steeling her gaze. "The Third Stage is to begin with the match between myself and Ino Yamanaka. From there, Rock lee and Kankuro of the Sand are to meet in the arena. Temari of the Sand and Shikamaru Nara are to follow them. You yourself are to then battle Neji Hyuga in what shall no doubt be a one-sided contest from there. Shino Aburame and Gaara of the Sand should conclude the first round of the contest. The second round will no doubt include ourselves but I do not know of the others." Sasuke suddenly held up his hand, four of his fingers together and one apart from the others. "Out of the five contestants to triumph in the first round, one of them will automatically proceed to the third round. The third round will involve two bouts and then the finals shall be held with the winners of those two matches."

"I see the Chunin Exams will be boring then." Naruto looked out to the arena. "I expect some entertainment in your match Legate. It will tide me over until I can face the Hyuga in the arena."

"Of course Caesar." Sasuke bowed his head and brought his fist over his armored heart with a clang. "I shall do as you command."

'I still can't believe I ever had that crush on him. Especially with how bad it was by the end of it.' Whatever affection Ino Yamanaka once felt for Sasuke Uchiha had been gone for nearly a month. Asuma Sarutobi didn't need to involve himself in getting rid of it either. Seeing everything he did, the way he blindly followed a lunatic, and his own sadism was enough for her to get over a stupid schoolyard crush. 'I'm going to kick your ass when we fight.'

Her training with Asuma Sarutobi had been beyond anything she was used to and had been borderline ruthless more often than not. He had drilled her endlessly day in and day out as the month drew to a close and refused to let her come to the fight with less than four different plans. It had taken nearly a week to create them with the harshness he had gone through the dozens of others she created. While making sure her Taijutsu was up to par in addition to her other skills while she recited them to him.

Poor plans made him go at her harder, his blows came faster, his weapons were more accurate, and she found herself collapsed by the end of it. Good plans made the training slightly easier. She could at least keep herself on her own two feet at the end.

It had been proper motivation for her to learn to think rather quickly on her feet.

'All that training was nothing but painful, the worst experience in my life, but it'll all be worth it when I bring you down Sasuke.' Ino didn't look away from the Uchiha. She wanted nothing more than to attack him now but a hand taking hold of her wrist stopped her from acting on any impulse.

"Not now." Shikamaru's dark eyes focused on her, helped her calm down. She breathed in and out twice before she gave him a sharp nod.

"I'm not going to let either him or Naruto get away with what they've done to Sakura." Shikamaru wasn't arguing with her. He only nodded with her words even if it came with a sigh.

"You can do what you want to the Uchiha, me and him never got along. But…" He couldn't finish. He caught sight of the look in her eyes and trailed off.

"Shikamaru." She spoke his name with warning. She knew where this was going. She was almost certain she knew where this was going.

"I know you don't like Naruto but leave him to me…maybe I can talk him out of all this insanity before it gets any worse." Shikamaru didn't meet Ino's disbelieving stare. His mind was working overtime at the moment and he didn't need her to leave any doubts. "Just let me give it a shot Ino. He's one of my oldest friends next to Choji. Him and Kiba hung out with us when we ditched classes back in the Academy. I know him better than most people. I can get through to him."

"Shikamaru…" Ino was the one holding him now, squeezing his hand with hers. She pitied him and he couldn't stand to look into those eyes.

He wished he could look at the clouds.

"Just let me try. If this was different, if Sakura was the one who went mental like this, you would be telling me and everyone else to let you try before anything else, right?" She didn't let go of his hand. He couldn't stand to look at anything but the ground. "I can fix this with the right plan. Trust me, I can get through to him if I get the chance to try."

He could. He just needed to think.

"Don't strain that brain of yours Shikamaru, I know you don't use it anywhere near enough." She let him go. She was smiling but it wasn't comforting. She was just pitying him. He knew it. She wanted to tell him how stupid he was but couldn't.

He needed to beli-He knew that Naruto, the Naruto he knew, was still in there somewhere. Someone just needed to talk to him, get past the Caesar and Empire nonsense, and get to the boy underneath it all. He could do it. He just needed the right plan.

" _Just you wait Shikamaru, you're looking at a future Hokage!"_

" _Yeah, and I'll be your right hand."_

" _Awesome! I thought I was going to have to give the job to Kiba!"_

" _Hey! You wanna say that again Naruto!"_

He didn't let his memories blind him. The old Naruto was gone for now. He needed to deal with the new Naruto. He needed to know exactly who he was dealing with. The blonde from the past, one of his best friends, was no more. At least for now.

All that was left was the boy who thought he was some kind of king.

" _Graze upon the Praetor of a Legion and the Caesar of an Empire and know you will be squashed like ants before my might!"_

Those words echoed now. The days of the past, simple days when he could just watch the clouds with three friends at his sides, were gone. They would remain gone forever if he didn't get through to the blonde that had replaced one dream with another.

'If I can't do it…' He couldn't let thoughts like that get into his head. If he did, he would start thinking about all the outcomes, all the possibilities. Then he would have to start thinking with logic. He would have to deal with thoughts he didn't want and didn't need. Logic would tell him not to risk so much just because he used to call Naruto Uzumaki his friend. Logic would tell him to forget about any friendship because it was dead now. Logic would tell him to do what needed to be done.

Logic would tell him to kill him before he brought the world into another war.

"Dammit." He rested a hand on his face. "I'm not used to this kind of stuff." He drew it away, looked into his wet palm. "I'm already sweating."

"Attention all in attendance…" He must have drifted off. The stadium around them was packed. The Hokage was up and giving another speech he couldn't listen to even if he tried. It was only about alliances, virtues of a Chunin, the Daimyo having their piece of it all with praise and gratitude from the village with the expected standing and applause from the crowd, and so much more the Nara could decipher from the first few sentences, from just the way the Hokage stood even.

He only listened for names in the end.

"…with all that said, it is time to begin!" The Hokage's words were met with cheers. "Ino Yamanaka vs. Sasuke Uchiha is the first match!" The cheers were louder.

"Wish me luck Shikamaru." Ino headed for the stairs. Sasuke took the ones opposite them.

His eyes drifted to Naruto.

'I've got to talk to him. I can fix this.'

* * *

AN: Nothing. Yet.


	34. The First Match!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full Chapter Title: The First Match! The Yamanaka Heiress vs. The Last Uchiha!

* * *

'I can't believe this.' One Ibiki Morino could hardly believe what he saw from his seat. Hayate Gekko was no longer the proctor of the Chunin Exams. He was currently hospitalized. In his place was another. If any other option was available, he knew the Hokage would have taken it but there honestly wasn't. There was no one with the village's Shinobi on high alert after what they learned from Hayate.

" _Y-Yama…"_ He hardly managed the name but he was lucky.

" _-naka."_ The Uchiha hadn't left his side since he had suddenly appeared with him. He finished the name for him. _"He wants a Yamanaka."_

After Inoichi was done, the village had no one to spare to proctor the exams.

"Alright you brats, stand on either side, here or here." All except for one Tokubetsu Jonin Anko Mitarashi.

The proctor for the Second Stage produced results at least. Both Genin wordlessly obeyed her even if they never broke off eye contact with the other.

"First things first, the Seal of Confrontation." Anko modeled the seal with a smirk. "Do it now or you're disqualified." The two complied without a word between them. "Good."

"The rules are the same as the preliminary so I'm not going to bother with repeating them. No complaining from either of you. Ninja, especially Chunin like you're shooting for, need to be able to remember information like that for months." Anko looked to both, hoping to catch some surprise but she only ended up rolling her eyes at their glaring contest. "Fine then, keep glaring at each other, see if I care." She huffed before raising her hand into the air.

"When I drop my hand, the match begins." She lifted her hand higher into the air. "When I raise my hand, the match ends."

She wasn't receiving much of a response from either so dropped her hand.

Ino immediately charged forward. Sasuke blocked her kick to his chest by crossing his arms before throwing his weight forward in the addition to a single step to knock her onto her back. She used the force of his movement to spin and strike high at his shoulder only for him to lean back. He didn't try to grab her and instead had to dodge the kunai she drew from the pouch on her leg by leaping back. He caught sight of the wire string carrying an unknown sphere at the end of it and a perfectly aimed shuriken severed the string.

His sandaled feet struck the ground just as she lowered her foot to the ground.

Their entire clash had lasted hardly a blink of an eye.

Neither of their breathing had shifted.

Sasuke's coal black eyes locked with her light blue ones and he lifted a hand into the air. He brought his fingers back into his palm before he adopted something close to a boxing stance.

Ino was a blur of motion when she threw a number of shuriken forward. Sasuke's eyes tracked each of them before he deflected each to the ground between the two. He made to make the same gesture as before when Ino threw a kunai low to the ground, aiming for his shins. He stopped it in the midst of its journey with another shuriken and caution entered his eyes.

He didn't seem to expect any tricks from her.

She offered him nothing but a cold smile before she charged forward.

Sasuke didn't show anything in his eyes as he countered her blow for blow.

'She's not this stupid. She knows her Taijutsu doesn't match up to mine, she could never hope to match up to me now so why is she wasting her time?' Sasuke knocked aside a punch, lifted his leg to stop a kick with his armored shin, and turned to the side to avoid a second kick. 'What is she planning?'

He broke away first. He flipped across the ground before he came up with some distance between the two.

"You've made an impressive improvement." In the blink of an eye he was gone from where he stood. He struck Ino in the side with a kick that threw her across the ground. His foot remained extended as Ino skidded across the ground even as she tried to stop herself. He lowered it to the ground with a grin. "But you're still nowhere near close to my level."

Ino didn't remain on the ground longer than it took to rise. She threw a trio of shuriken forward that Sasuke deflected with a kunai that was drawn and moved at blinding speeds. He threw it towards her in the same instant it took him to deflect all three of her projectiles and she narrowly avoided the knife. It buried itself into the wall behind her.

She caught the glint of the wire string hanging from the ring and immediately leaped away.

'That's part of his setup for that Jutsu he used in the Second Stage.' Ino severed the wire string with a shuriken sent straight down as she was airborne. She struck the ground and dashed to the side. She didn't let her mind flash to the preliminaries when he had tried to burn that girl to death.

Sasuke followed after her, matching her speed easily from his initial burst as he reached her side.

"I see you've down your homework." Ino ignored his voice, she threw several shuriken at him she didn't hear strike. He didn't even bother to deflect them. "You didn't waste any of your time it seems." His kunai swung at her head but it was slow. It was intentional. He wanted her to block it and she did. The clash lasted for only a moment before she found herself swiftly overpowered by the Uchiha. "It's a shame that all your hard work will end up going to waste."

"Why's that?" Ino managed to stop him if only for a moment.

"You can't beat me." Sasuke ended the stalemate with ease. "It's hopeless."

His foot crashed into her chest and she was powered back through the air. The Uchiha remained where he stood instead of pursuing his opponent and slowly lowered his foot, the same as before towards the beginning of the match hardly a few minutes ago. Ino recovered quickly, hitting the ground feet first, and glared at Sasuke. She threw her kunai forward and the Uchiha moved his head to the side to avoid it.

She threw a trio of shuriken forward again just as he began to charge towards her. She drew a pair of kunai to her hand and blocked his rapid strikes from his own pair. She didn't manage to keep hold of both of her weapons for long, a particularly strong strike sending one clattering to the ground. He threw one of his own at her but she countered it. By the smirk on his face she knew he had down it simply to mock her. She lunged forward and he blocked her strike like she thought he would. She broke away from the short clash by jumping back and turning before her feet hit the ground. She ran, hugging the wall while throwing her kunai into the stone next to her. Sasuke of course followed after her with a roll of his eyes at her simple tactics when something unexpected happened.

He ran into the trio of wire strings binding her shuriken to the ring at the end of her kunai. The still airborne shuriken suddenly curved back and wrapped around him the moment he slammed into the string at his near top speed to get to Ino once more. His arms were trapped at his sides even as he came to an immediate stop, saving himself the humiliation of striking the ground face first.

"You're smarter than I thought." Ino didn't waste time with speaking to him as she turned, forming the hand sign necessary for her Clan's infamous Hiden Jutsu.

Sasuke jerked his body to the side, ripping the sole kunai in the wall free, and he dashed across the arena. Ino dropped her hands but didn't let the irritation her plan failing caused.

'I should have expected that would happen.' She could only chastise herself as she moved after the Uchiha and reached into her ninja pouch. 'He knows how I plan to end this fight.

" _I forfeit!"_ She could imagine it actually. He would be forced to do as she wished the moment her Mind Body Switch connected. His plan probably revolved around avoiding her line of sight anytime he saw that hand sign and then attack her when she missed.

'I'm going to need to immobilize him completely before I can use the Mind Body Switch.' It would be the only way for her plan to work. 'I wish I knew some Genjutsu that could do the job but this will have to do.'

Ino threw a kunai, an explosive tag trailing behind it, and the Uchiha predictably dodged it even with his arms still at his side. He smirked at her before spinning, the kunai connected to the wire strings binding him streaking through the air. It struck her kunai and sent it right back towards her.

The tag was burning and Ino dodged the blast it unleashed moments later. She used the results of the explosion, a cloud of smoke and dirt, to vanish from sight. By the time it cleared from in front of her, the Uchiha had freed himself from the wire strings wrapped around him. He rolled his shoulders for a moment before he brought his fist into his hand.

Ino was suddenly behind him in a burst of smoke with a smirk, aiming to kick him in the back of his head, but she only succeeded in striking the air and completing a hundred eighty degrees turn. Sasuke threw his hand out and aimed to strike her with the back of his armored hand but his hand went through nothing but the illusion she had cast. His eyes didn't widen as he immediately lunged to the side to avoid the several kunai sent at him from above by an airborne Ino.

"That's not going to work." He stepped back from where he landed, giving Ino plenty of time to rise form her crouch upon landing. She didn't glare at him as she expected but looked at him with nothing but a type of calculation he hadn't seen in her eyes before. He should have been concerned but wasn't as one hand came up to the clasp of his cape. Within moments it fell to the ground.

"Are you sure?" Ino planted a hand on her hip, the other being filled with three kunai. "I'm sure I can beat you if with just kunai and shuriken if I need to."

"Really?" Sasuke didn't laugh but it was close. He threw a single kunai forward at blinding speeds and cut a strand of Ino's hair. "Can you do the same to mine?" His question was rhetorical thanks to the helmet covering his head. "Don't bother answering. We both already know the answer is no."

He vanished in a burst of speed. Ino didn't let panic overtake her as she threw two of her kunai where he appeared at her side. He dodged them by turning to the side and his foot lashed out at her side. She used her free hand to vault over it using his armor and threw her third kunai forward. He stopped it.

He actually caught the ring at the end of one finger, spun it, and then sent it back towards her.

Ino launched herself across the ground and avoided it but the Uchiha didn't pursue. He let his leg fall back to the ground and chuckled. A trio of shuriken suddenly soared towards Ino but her own shuriken countered them, sent all six scattering to the side of the space between the two Genin.

Ino drew a pair of kunai from her ninja pouch and threw them forward. Sasuke's coal black eyes spotted the explosive tags trailing behind both and a shuriken sent them off to the side. It bounced off of one to strike the other. Neither came close to striking him but that was never the intention.

The Yamanaka detonated them in midair. She used the smokescreen to vanish from the Uchiha's sight.

"Ino…" Sakura looked down from the stands, worry in her eyes.

"Don't worry about Ino." Asuma took a moment to glance from the arena to her. "She'll be fine down there. She's going to win."

His reassurance didn't do much for Sakura. She knew where Ino had disappeared to in the explosion and it was likely the Uchiha she was fighting knew as well.

He was simply dragging everything out. His brief clash with Ino was telling.

'He instantly overpowered her and noticed.' She had seen his eyes narrow, his mind begin to work. He had stopped himself from going any further, from forcing his opponent to the ground. He let Ino believe she had enough strength to bring it to a stalemate when she didn't. 'He's not fighting her with anything close to his full power. I don't know if I should be happy or not.'

'He hasn't even activated his Sharingan yet.' That fact more than anything made Sakura worry for the fate of her best friend. It proved how much Sasuke was limiting himself for the match for whatever reason. 'He's not taking this seriously at all.' The early stages of the fight proved it. 'He went for that same Ninjutsu he tried to use on Kin knowing Ino would dodge it, knowing she scouted it and he clearly telegraphed it. He's only used his Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu to taunt Ino. He wants to make this match longer than it needs to be.'

Her eyes glanced to where the competitors waited. Her eyes found Naruto's armored form easily. A pair of his centurions stood with him, summoned sometime after Sasuke had left for his match, and he quietly conversed with them. Their eyes never moved away from the match but they weren't focused on it at all.

'What is he planning?'

"Impressive!" Sasuke's shout drew her attention back to the match.

He had caught Ino's fist in his palm to stop a clash of their respective Taijutsu she hadn't seen. His grip was enough to prevent her from breaking free no matter how much she pulled. He turned, grabbing hold of her arm below her shoulder, and flung her onto her back. Ino was quick to roll onto her stomach and avoid his foot as he brought it down. She moved onto all fours and threw herself back and onto her feet once more as Sasuke did nothing to pursue or pressure her.

The best he did was throw a single shuriken forward. She easily ducked underneath it and fired back with a kunai from each hand.

"I thought I already showed you why this won't work." He used a single kunai to stop her. The end of the blade of one was trapped by the ring at the end of the hilt and the ring of the other was caught on the tip of the kunai. He moved his hand and began spinning the kunai around as the other fell at his feet as he walked forward. "You can't beat me by throwing weapons at me Yamanaka."

"I'm sure I can Sasuke." Ino reached into her ninja pouch.

He appeared at her side with the spinning kunai raised to her neck. She leaned to the side to avoid it before jumping away. She landed some distance away just as Sasuke let the kunai fly forward by tilting his enough for it to fly forward. She dodged it but once again lost several strands of platinum blonde hair.

"Look at how easy that was." Sasuke lowered his hand to his side. "Give up before I aim for your neck Yamanaka."

"And embarrass myself losing to someone like you?" Ino threw back her head and laughed. Sasuke appeared in front of her and swiped at her neck but she had expected it. She flipped, her sandaled feet striking him in the chin narrowly avoided by the Uchiha as he leaned back. She landed on her feet once more and smirked at the Uchiha. "I'll never give up."

Determination burned in her eyes.

"So be it." Sasuke's arms were suddenly a blur. A dozen kunai and shuriken soared towards Ino and her eyes widened only momentarily before she threw herself into action.

'Just like training with Asuma-sensei.' He had attacked her with barrages of weapons plenty of times. She knew how to counter them.

She threw herself into a dead sprint, moving around the Uchiha. His adjustments were slight to follow after her with his weapons.

'He's summoning them.' She could hear the telltale sound even among the barrage of weapons he fired striking the arena. 'Seals on his armor.' She replied in kind with several kunai, each of them spotted and deflected to the ground by a shuriken.

Ino smirked as the explosive tags on each detonated, separated them with a cloud of dust and smoke.

"Katon: Hosenka!" A dozen miniature fireballs ripped through the cloud moments later. He wasn't planning to hit her, it was clear from the way he spaced them out, he just wanted to draw her into the air as she avoided them.

She dropped low to the ground instead, felt the heat of the flames as they passed over her back, and threw a trio of shuriken low to the ground.

The Uchiha was the one who took to the air in the end, launching more miniaturized fireballs from his mouth after taking a breath.

'He has a limit.' Ino immediately noticed as she rose back to her feet and dodged to the side to avoid the trio of fireballs soaring towards her as the Uchiha began his descent back to the ground. 'What is it?' She quickly ran a mental count. 'Two when he jumped, three just then, and three more now. Eight.' She dodged the three newest fireballs as Sasuke landed on the ground.

'Nine.' She dodged his next small fireball. 'Ten.' She turned to the side, avoiding the tenth fireball.

'Twelve.' He fired two more to no avail. Ino jumped out of the way of both.

His hand fell from his mouth and he inhaled.

'His limit is twelve.' The number wasn't a comfort to Ino. 'He's a lot stronger than I thought.' She had studied the techniques Uchiha were known to use and, unsurprisingly, they had been Fire Release ones of varying power. The one he had just used, Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Technique, was one she made sure to remember. 'The usual Uchiha could fire six. Proper breathing and good Chakra control could increase that to ten. Twelve is pretty extreme especially with the size he fired them at.'

Ino looked at the Uchiha that she was facing and swallowed.

'He's not a prodigy for nothing it looks like.'

"Are you going to give up yet? Do you understand how hopeless it is to battle me?" Sasuke was looking for her to surrender and Ino cursed herself.

'He knows I'm afraid now.' She should have controlled herself better. She should have made sure to simply attack but she didn't. She couldn't help but think even in the heat of combat, think about how strong Sasuke Uchiha really was, and almost wish she hadn't gotten matched up with him.

'He's going to try to get me to forfeit.' She had to control herself. She needed to use this, get him off his guard and attack. 'I can't let him get in my head.'

"Are you scared of me that much Sasuke-kun?" She smiled at him, didn't need to hide her delight when something very important crossed his face.

Rage. If he was angry, he wasn't thinking clearly.

"I fear nothing." His words were clipped, his tone sharp. She had gotten under his skin rather quickly.

"You fear a lot, don't you?" The twitch of his face was telling. Her smile widened as she crossed her arms behind her back. "You're afraid of failure for one. I can see it in the way you're looking at me, the way you're standing like that. You're trying to hide it but you can't keep it hidden from me." Ino readied a handful of shuriken behind her back. Her smile widened. "Just admit it Sasuke-kun."

"I'm going to enjoy beating you."

'Predictable.' Her eyes didn't widen at the handful of shuriken he summoned to his hand to throw. She responded in kind. He threw more to counter hers as she drew a kunai to her hand to deflect the shuriken that were aimed for her, the other throwing another kunai forward.

Sasuke copied her from earlier. He dashed to her side and tried to run circles around her as he threw a number of shuriken towards her. She ran in a straight line to avoid it.

"Don't be more afraid than you already are Sasuke-kun, there's nothing to be ashamed about." A shuriken came close to her chest but a new kunai brought to her hand deflected it. She threw both forward and the Uchiha caught them out the air, his barrage ceasing as he glared at her. "I can see it in your eyes right now."

"Beneath all that anger, all the boasting, and all your pride, you're nothing but afraid." Ino's smile turned into something else as she came to a stop. She knew he wouldn't throw the kunai forward for now. He was using them to suppress his rage. She could tell by how white his knuckles wore. "You're afraid of so many things it's almost sad, almost enough to make me pity you."

Her two kunai were thrown but she didn't bother deflecting them. She kept her eyes focused on Sasuke as he rose his hands and formed a number of hand signs, his body nearly shaking with his rage.

'I struck a chord.' She had seen him form hand signs slowly before. It was a prelude to a powerful technique, one he wanted her to know was coming but couldn't stop. 'He's going to use something powerful.'

"Burn."

He didn't speak the name of the technique.

He merely breathed out an inferno.

'He's…how can he be so powerful?' Kiba wanted to growl as he saw the inferno the Uchiha unleashed in his anger from where he sat. 'How can he be so far ahead of me?' He remembered their almost clash in the hallway from over a month ago. He remembered how easy the Uchiha had put him on the floor when he tried to fight him before the Chunin Exams.

He hated the fact he was still so much weaker than the Uchiha. The fires raging below them, spreading to cover half the arena, were signs enough of the gap in their strength.

'I've got to get stronger if I want to beat him, beat Naruto.' He knew the blonde was stronger than the Uchiha. 'I've got to get stronger and stop him for Hinata.'

Sasuke didn't know of Kiba's silent vow and wouldn't care even if he did. All he cared for currently was burning the girl he was fighting to death.

'This…this…' The flames ceased as he dropped his hands to his side. He could only curse himself in that moment.

"You're good Yamanaka." Sasuke resisted the urge to run a hand over his sweating face. "Your plan was to get me to waste my Chakra in my anger as I tried to show you just how outclassed you were." He chuckled as he took in the dying flames of his attack. "I should have expected as much from you."

Ino burst out of the ground beneath him suddenly, a kunai in both hands slashing at him.

He grabbed hold of her wrist to stop her. He forced her arms out to her side as he smirked at her.

"You're still nowhere near good enough to beat me." He rose both feet and kicked her in the chest, launching himself off of her. He spun in the air to land on his feet while she was thrown through the air. He launched a number of shuriken at her by swinging his hand at her, letting their expulsion from the seal at his wrist send them forward. Ino successfully deflected all of them with her kunai as she twisted in the air and landed feet first in a crouch.

"Am I?" Sasuke only raised an eyebrow right before he heard the hissing below him. His eyes widened.

He hardly began to move when the ground at his feet exploded a moment later and Ino tossed her kunai to the side. They embedded into the ground and she reached into her ninja pouch before bringing her hand up to her mouth.

'Snake. Rat. Snake. Tiger.'

'She's better than I thought.' Sasuke admitted such a fact in the privacy of his own thoughts. He glanced to where his hastily arisen wall of dirt had saved him from taking the full force of the blast. He had managed to funnel enough of it to the side with the half dome. 'Far better.'

'I should use my Sharingan and end this.' It was tempting to use the Dojutsu. 'I should trap her in a Genjutsu and cripple her.' He wanted to do it but didn't. His eyes looked to the participant box and found Naruto's eyes watching the match. 'I promised a show after all.'

"Katon: Haisekisho!" The voice came from above him. The Uchiha shielded himself with his arms as a black cloud settled around him, expelled from Ino. His eyes widened for the second time in a matter of moments seconds later.

"Sh-" Ino bit down on the flint she had placed in her mouth to ignite the gunpowder.

* * *

AN: Nothing yet.


	35. My Nindo!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter Title: My Nindo

* * *

The explosion rocked the crowd. Excitement moved through the air. People were anxious to see if the Uchiha, the odds heavily in his favor to win the entire tournament, could pull through from the explosion. Others wished he didn't. Others wanted the matches they betted on to happen already.

"Ino knows your Jutsu?" Kurenai had her suspicions when the Yamanaka had reached into her ninja pouch but they were all confirmed thanks to the explosion that had just engulfed the Uchiha. "Since when?"

"I had a month to teach her." Asuma's eyes shined with pride as Ino landed on the ground, panting from using so much Chakra, but she remained standing nonetheless. "I decided to figure out her Chakra Nature during it and I can't tell you how surprised I was." He chuckled at the memory.

" _What am I supposed to do with this? Throw it at Sasuke?" Ino wasn't impressed with the paper in her hands and Asuma chuckled._

" _Don't throw the paper away just yet. This is designed to show which of the five Nature Transformations you're naturally attuned to." Asuma held up his own paper and it split in half a moment later. "You see that? That means my Chakra Nature is Wind."_

" _I already knew that Asuma-sensei." Ino rolled her eyes, the paper held between two fingers at her side. "Everybody in Konoha knows you have a Wind Nature."_

" _Mainly because it's pretty rare in the Land of Fire." Asuma drew his Chakra Blade in his now free hand and it was consumed by Chakra. "My Chakra's pretty good when it comes to cutting things so I learned Chakra Flow, created the Flying Swallow, and, eventually, ended up a Twelve Guardian Ninja and a Jonin."_

" _You sound SO modest right now Asuma-sensei." Ino smiled despite her tone. Her eyes looked down to the paper in her hands. "Are you going to show me how to do this or what?"_

" _Just flow Chakra to it. About the same as when you activate a basic seal." Asuma lowered his Chakra Blade and cancelled the flow of Chakra to it. "Once I figure out what you're Chakra Nature is, I'll be able to see what I can teach you. Got it?"_

" _I'm not an idiot." Ino did as instructed. A small blaze erupted in her hand and ash gathered at her feet._

" _You've got a Fire Nature then. A natural from the fact you actually caused a fire. Most Uchiha couldn't manage that when they took the test." Asuma didn't let himself laugh. "This is almost bad luck, if I was a normal Sarutobi I could probably teach you plenty of techniques to use but my Wind Chakra Nature made that kind of training useless for me, could never get a good grasp of most of the techniques my old man tried to teach me day in and day out." His mind was racing at the discovery. He chuckled. "If I was an Uchiha I could teach you more through, a couple good Fire Release techniques. Maybe one would even try to teach you if they figured out your Chakra Nature. Most would jump at the chance to get a girl like you to notice them."_

" _Don't even joke like that Asuma-sensei!" Ino stomped her foot, glaring at the Jonin who finally gave in and broke into laughter. "Don't laugh about this!"_

" _I-I'm not!" Asuma began to cough. "This is definitely a cough!"_

" _No it's not!"_

" _It is." He slowly came to a stop. "Besides, I've got a few Fire Release techniques I can teach you. I've even got one I created myself for you."_

" _Really?" Ino's personality made a complete one eighty, from angry and annoyed to excited. "What is it?"_

" _We'll get to that later." The Jonin cracked his neck. "For now, let's see how well your Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu is."_

"I figured she needed a secret weapon against the Uchiha and so taught her it." Asuma couldn't help but chuckle. "The look on the kid's face was probably priceless. Right before Ino ignited the cloud."

'I really wish you would see sense already.' Sakura could only sigh from where she looked on. She overheard the bearded Jonin and couldn't help but almost pity him. 'Sasuke still isn't taking this fight seriously. He still hasn't activated his Sharingan.' Sakura was growing more and more worried for her friend. 'He has some type of plan but what is it?'

In the arena, the smoke from the blast was clearing, Ino anxious to see the results of the Chakra taxing technique she had made use of.

Silence passed for several moments. No movement came from the smoke and dust in front of her. The heiress didn't drop her guard. She remained vigilant with a kunai in one hand. She searched for the Uchiha but her eyes could see nothing in the dark cloud.

Finally she heard a groan.

As if that was a signal, a sudden wind blew away the smoke. The Uchiha was within the center of the cloud smoke but he wasn't untouched by it. A circle of towering shields had taken the majority of the force of the explosion around him and had probably saved his life but his armor was scorched. He glared at the Yamanaka Heiress from where he knelt, one palm placed on the ground.

"I didn't know you learned your sensei's technique." Sasuke slowly rose from where he had dropped to a knee on the ground, his face contorting with pain even if he refused to let it stop him. "I should have expected as much now that I think about it."

His hand fell to the hilt of his sword but, with a sigh, he drew it away just as quickly.

"I wish I could kill you." Sasuke was in pain. It was as clear to Ino just as it was clear to anyone watching. Only stubborn pride allowed him to stand like he was. "I should kill you, rules be damned, but I can control myself for a little while longer." He began to take measured steps forward, his arms crossing over his armored chest. "I would challenge you to see which of our fires burn hotter but it would be worthless to test the Ninjutsu of a Yamanaka like you against the might of an Uchiha like myself."

"Really?" Ino hid her tiredness well. No one could tell from her voice how close she was to exhaustion. She also hid the disbelief on the fact that he was standing rather easily as well. "Are you sure I can't beat you like you are now Sasuke-kun? From the looks of things, you can hardly keep yourself standing."

It was clear, both were doing their best to keep the other talking while they recovered. Caught their breath, try to focus beyond the pain, and think up a plan on how to defeat their opponent. So far, both of them had accomplished the first two but the last remained a distant dream.

Ino had unleashed her trump card early in a bid to end the match and that had failed. Sasuke was cautious to approach her after seeing the rather impressive Ninjutsu she had under her belt but wouldn't be for long. He would eventually call her bluff and make his move and she could only hope she was ready for it.

"No matter what you think you can do, the impossible will forever remain impossible." The Uchiha rolled his shoulders. His breathing was slowly becoming more even. The pain on his face was becoming less prevalent as he moved his mind beyond it, forced it away and to the abyss he sent all of his pain. "You don't stand a chance against me using my natural element."

"I thought you did better research on everyone with how confident you've been. You're not the only one with a Fire Nature in the Exams. It's mine too Sasuke-kun." Ino smiled at the fact Sasuke couldn't hide the surprise her words brought on. "I figured out during my training with Asuma-sensei, I'm especially gifted with Fire Release it seems. He actually told me I put some Uchiha to shame."

"If only told me that when we were both still in the Academy together." Sasuke smiled at her. "I may have considered looking past your more annoying habits and seeing you worth my time. If only a little."

"If only you weren't insane now." She allowed herself to blush. "I could almost imagine actually caring about what you think of me."

"I may consider you worth my time if you do the right thing and forfeit now." His breathing was under his control now. She knew he was going to attack any second now.

"I didn't know you had a bit of a crush on me Sasuke-kun." Ino smiled as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I might consider taking you out on a pity date later once I beat you if you ask nicely enough."

"Funny." He was behind her, tried to grab her in a full nelson. She turned and tried to kick his head off only for his armored forearms to come together to stop her foot. She didn't wince as her shin met his armor. He didn't wince at just how strong her kick was. "I was thinking the same thing."

She drew back before her leg could be grabbed and the Uchiha took several steps back. Ino threw a kunai forward that he deflected to the side with one in his hand and she charged him in the midst of doing so. He threw his kunai at her but she vanished in a puff of smoke using the Shunsin. He didn't get a chance to search for her before she planted her hands on the ground and her feet in his stomach. She managed to send him into the air with the unexpected attack. He tried to grab hold of her but she pushed off of him once he was airborne.

The Uchiha's eyes followed her hands as they were filled with kunai.

He dodged them by tucking himself in before landing on his feet on the ground before Ino kipped up to her feet. The two looked at each other for a moment before racing forward and meeting each other in a clash of Taijutsu.

The toil of the battle put both on even footing surprisingly enough.

"Come on Ino." Shikamaru and Choji were of one mind despite being away from each other. Both were anxious to see the Yamanaka end the match. The longer it went on, the more they began to worry for her. Both knew her rather well, knew how she fought, and stamina wasn't that big a part of it.

'A month of training with Asuma-sensei or not, don't waste time with a guy like Sasuke.' Shikamaru wanted to be down there with his teammate, with his friend, but knew Ino would hate him if he got her disqualified from the Third Stage. 'You've got to have something beyond Taijutsu, right?'

"Why don't you give up?" The two broke away, both falling onto a single knee as they hurried to catch their breath once more.

"You wouldn't understand Sasuke-kun." She was mocking him with the name.

The two clashed again, Ino landing a kick to his side as he did the same. Both drew back and dropped a hand to their sides for a moment before blitzing the other, hoping to deliver another strike when their fists collided between the two.

"Try me Ino-chan." The name was the same from him. He was mocking her with something she would have once given anything to hear him say. Now she didn't care at all, could hardly stand seeing the Uchiha smile at her the way he was now.

"Alright." She smiled as she tried to kick his head off and flip. He dodged her by stepping back. She came up on her feet and throwing a shuriken at him that he dodged by ducking under it. "I have a new Nindo."

"New?" Sasuke charged forward with a kunai in each hand, Ino spotting them and drawing a pair from her ninja pouch. "I never thought you even had one. Most people don't care for them beyond whatever their village's creed told them to believe in."

"Trust me, I did." Ino and Sasuke struggled to push through the other's defense but neither could. It was a stalemate. "My old one was ridiculous: I wanted to be a Kunoichi perfect for Sasuke-kun." The Uchiha chuckled and Ino did the same. "Yeah, it was stupid. It was all because I had that stupid crush on you Sasuke-kun."

"Is that why you have long hair?" Ino really did blush as Sasuke hit the nail on the head. "I have to wonder who started that rumor. I like girls with short hair actually."

"Good to know." Ino broke away and tried to slit his throat with one kunai and stab him in the stomach with the other. Sasuke maneuvered both of his kunai to stop her, catching the points of hers on the rings like he had done several times already. "I'll make sure to keep mine long just so you know I'll always hate you."

"I can't begin to tell you how childish that is of you, Ino-chan." Sasuke broke away, attempted to pull her kunai from her hands, failed, and didn't try for longer than a moment. He lunged forward, slashing at her as she met his strikes with the blades of her kunai. "I thought you would cut it for me."

"I would have if I didn't change for the better." Ino pressed her attack when Sasuke tried to lock her in a clash of blades once more. "I would have done anything you said if I didn't finally see you for what you really are, if I didn't see who you really are, if I didn't see how insane you really were until a month ago!"

"I almost wish you were the same stupid girl right now." Sasuke deflected her blows with ease. At least he was trying to express a lackadaisical air to his opponent. He was rather good at it if she didn't press her attack any further than she did before pulling away. "I would get to see just how far you would go for that stupid crush you had on me in the Academy."

"Trust me, I would have done anything to hear you call me 'Ino-chan' back then." Ino spun, kicking at him and throwing her kunai forward. Sasuke deflected her thrown pair with his own thrown pair and trapped her arm at his side with his arm. He spun and released her, sending her into a tree that was somehow still standing despite the fires burning around it. Ino landed in a crouch, Chakra channeled to her feet kept her there for a moment, before she threw herself back towards the Uchiha. "Now I know better."

"You do." The Uchiha ducked, crossing his arms above his head to stop a kick he didn't want to risk connecting with the top of his head. Helmet or not, it would leave him open for whatever else she had planned. "You can almost impress me now."

"That's all because of my new Ninja Way." Ino didn't let Sasuke forcing himself back up to his full height unbalance her. She landed on her feet in front of him and the two clashed again, Ino blocking his blow to the side of her head with a raised hand crossed over her chest. She attempted to drive her elbow into his collarbone when he drew back and pulled his trapped fist free. "I'm sure you're anxious to know what it is, right?"

"Sure." Sasuke gave his best shrug as he caught Ino's punch and threw his own kick only to find his leg trapped under her arm like he had done only moments ago.

"I don't care if you think it's just as childish as my hair." Ino spun, the Uchiha quickly drawing back his free leg and trying to plant it in her stomach. She released him before he could and his back hit the ground. He rolled as he landed, coming up on his feet and launching himself forward.

The two clashed with kunai once more.

Neither surpassed the strength of the other.

"My new Nindo is simple Sasuke-kun." Ino pushed and Sasuke gave way. His eyes widening in surprise at her strength would be a memory she knew she would cherish. "I'll be a strong Kunoichi for myself, to protect my friends, and beat people like you!"

The Uchiha was pushed off balance but he swiftly recovered. He didn't let his back hit the ground and broke the blade lock the two held. He threw his kunai forward but Ino dodged to the side to avoid them as she threw her own forward.

The two formed their own hand signs.

"Katon: Gokakyu!"

They produced the same stream of fire.

They met in a clash in the middle for only a moment. Both threw themselves over the clashing flames to attack the other.

"You dare to mock me, mock the Uchiha?" Sasuke and Ino clashed with blinding speed even in their current state. Both passed the other and landed in a crouch, their backs to the dying inferno behind them. Sasuke turned and threw his kunai at nothing but air.

Ino dashed to the side before darting towards the Uchiha with her kunai.

"Katon: Hosenka!" Sasuke was not considered a prodigy among a clan of warriors without reason. He unleashed a barrage of a dozen fireballs while backing away from the soon to be inferno.

Ino dodged what she could by moving from side to side with short use of the Shunsin before she took to the air with a powerful leap to dodge the others.

'Let's hope this works.'

" _Like I said when we started, you probably can't beat him head on. You need to get his focus off the match, let his emotions guide him instead, and strike him when he's completely off his game."_

" _But what if none of that works?"_

" _Then have a backup plan. You still have a few days to prepare."_

" _A backup plan…I think I have just the thing Asuma-sensei!"_

She landed and immediately pursued him with a kunai in each hand. He spun a kunai into each hand by the rings at the end and stopped both of hers with ease. He smirked at her but it was quickly gone when she once again made to kick his head off. Her kunai were free to fall as he rose a forearm up to block her strike. He aimed to slash at her side with the kunai in his other hand and she forced herself away from him by making use of his raised arm as a launching pad.

She flipped across the ground on her hands and the Uchiha glanced down at the kunai at his feet.

The smoke bombs tied at the hilts exploded and he was consumed by a dark cloud. He coughed within, bringing one hand up to his mouth to attempt to stop it and failed. His coughing grew worse as he leaped out of the cloud. His vision immediately grew hazy when he struck the ground and his eyes widened.

'Poison?'

 **CHAPTER BREAK: The Legate's On the Ropes? Ino's Countdown to Victory Begins!**

"Hm, I feel sorry for whoever bet on the Uchiha to win." Asuma chuckled as he saw the Uchiha struggle to keep himself up, his eyes widening as he realized what had happened. "Ino's got this match in the bag it looks like."

"You trained her well." Kurenai congratulated him with a kiss to the cheek. "I hope Neji beats the brat he's fighting."

"Looks like Asuma trained that girl pretty well." Anko talked to no one as she leaned on the railing, her perch a bit too dangerous for most of the civilians watching but perfect for the proctor. "She knew she couldn't beat him without first taking away as many of his strengths as she could." She shook her head. "The idiot should have ended the match as soon as he had the chance." Anko could have guessed the Uchiha's game plan in a second. "So what if he's trying to conserve energy for the next round? It doesn't matter if you can't beat your first round opponent."

"Are you sure that's his plan?" Ibiki Morion stood on the other side of the railing. His eyes searched the crowd even as he spoke to Anko.

"Of course it is. He got paired up with a weak fighter and is saving his strength for the real heavy hitters later, like the kid with the sand." Anko didn't take it kindly when the scarred man chuckled.

"And here I thought I taught you better." Ibiki was unconcerned with Anko's glare.

"Don't try and make this into one of your little lessons Scarhead." Anko's eyes narrowed when she looked to the head of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation. "Anybody who's been in this kind of situation would do the same."

"You should have been watching those brats better Anko." Ibiki spoke no more, he only gave her an almost pitying shake of his head.

"Shut up." Anko rolled her eyes and turned back to the match.

'He's just messing with me…right?' Regardless of knowing she was right about the Uchiha's strategy, she would be paying closer attention to the prospective Chunin from now on.

The Uchiha couldn't believe what was happening even as he fell to a knee, his coughing growing worse. He could hardly keep his head up as each cough brought out more and more gas.

'What the hell?' He looked down at his hand, his vision failing him. He looked and saw hand after hand when there should only be two. He tried to shake his head clear but only brought on the desire to hurl, he tried to focus on what he knew to be there, the fact that he only had two hands, but he failed. 'What the hell did she do to me?'

He struggled to rise back to his feet but Ino was suddenly in front of him. A straight punch to the face knocked him onto his back and she smiled.

"That was unbelievably satisfying you know." She couldn't help but gloat as she slowly brought her extended arm back. "I've wanted to punch you in the face ever since I figured out how insane you really are." The Uchiha struggled to raise his head up at her from where he rested on his back.

His glare revealed enough of what he felt about her. He hated her. He wanted to get back on his feet and clobber her. He was scared of whatever poison coursing through his veins. He was close to panicking with the idea of dying here and now firmly entrenched in his mind. He hated her for making him feel so helpless, so powerless.

"Don't bother looking at me like that." Ino rolled her eyes as she stepped back from him. "It's nothing lethal."

The Uchiha succeeded in sitting up, still coughing but nowhere near as much as before. He struggled to keep his eyes open but that was all. Ino let him rise back up to his feet and threw a pair of kunai at him from one of her hands.

The Uchiha was capable enough to avoid them even if briefly, one struck the side of his helmet at the cheek and left a narrow scratch in the metal. He lifted a hand up to it in almost shock before his hands were a blur. Ino's eyes widened at the sight of something that should have been impossible and she immediately put distance between herself and the Uchiha.

"Katon: Hosenka!" He fired a number of fireballs from his mouth that Ino didn't even need to worry about, be it his aim or the fact that most fizzled out before they reached her. She didn't try to do anything else to the Uchiha and avoided one of the fireballs by twisting her body to the side. Each came with less and less intensity as the Uchiha rapidly dropped to a knee once more until eventually no more came.

He had hardly managed to fire six. The last was so pitiful it burned itself out before it even reached a fourth of the distance between the two Genin.

"You…" He slammed a fist into the ground as he tried to glare at the girl in front of him. "I'll incinerate you for this!" The very nature of his threat was marred by harsh coughing, gas escaping his lungs through his mouth.

The Uchiha vanished in a poorly executed Shunshin and appeared, hardly standing, behind Ino. She easily avoided his sloppy blow to her back and threw a shuriken into his chest. His armor deflected it but he still stumbled back. He was clearly trying to attack her with everything he had and it was failing.

He let out a wordless bellow of rage as he threw a number of shuriken from each hand. His normal pinpoint accuracy was ruined, each of them wildly missing their target as Ino remained stationary.

"That's such a shame Sasuke-kun." The endearing title was spoken with nothing but mockery as Ino slowly shook her head, acting as if he was misbehaving toddler instead of a Shinobi. "Is your vision possibly getting hazy?"

She formed several hand signs with deliberate slowness and the Uchiha suddenly lurched. His stance became worse as the world shifted wildly around him.

"I'm sure the Genjutsu doesn't help you at all." She was mocking him. She was enjoying every second of what she was doing. He tried to step forward but nearly fell as his balance was shot to hell. He seemed to be on the verge of hurling actually as he closed his eyes, ceasing all movements.

"That's a mistake." A kunai scratched the other side of his helmet, once unmarred unlike the other. Her miss was completely intentional. "You need to keep moving." The next drew a thin line across the side of his neck, a thin bead of blood rolled down his exposed skin a moment later. "Go ahead Sasuke-kun, open your eyes."

He did so. The Sharingan wasn't in them but it wouldn't have helped. They were half lidded when they were forced open by will alone, unfocused no matter how much he tried to focus on his opponent. The only thing that was clear in them was the hate he must have been feeling towards Ino. He hated her for rendering him helpless like this, hated her for mocking him, hated for her making him weak.

He staggered forward and Ino rose an eyebrow at the sight.

'He's stronger than I thought. The gas I used should have laid him out by now.' Ino began to slowly step back as Sasuke tried to move faster and failed. He couldn't move faster than a drunken gait, nearly falling to the ground more than once. 'I'm going to need to give him another dose.'

A number of specially made senbon rested in her ninja pouch and her hand reached into it, drew one coated in the drugs she had used and the other two with nothing. Sasuke's eyes actually did sharpen when he saw them but it was still useless.

He could do nothing to block them.

He rose his armored arms up, stopping one of them by letting it bounce off of his armor. The other two sailed past as he made a drunken turn to the side.

'He dodged it.' Ino's eyes widened. She hadn't expected him to be capable of pulling something like that off after everything she had thrown at him. 'I need to hit him with the second dose now.'

She didn't waste time, drawing a pair of the drugged senbon to each hand and throwing them forward. He vanished in a burst of smoke right before they reached him. He hit the ground hard not too far away from where he had begun but it was enough to avoid her needles. She quickly dashed forward, drawing a kunai to her hand.

He spotted her through his renewed coughing and multiplying double vision and held one hand forward. Ino recognized what he was doing from earlier and she vanished using Shunsin just as dozens of shuriken soared through the air where she had been standing. Her back hit the trunk of a tree not too far from the Uchiha as he fell onto his back, his heavy breathing clear to her ears.

"I didn't believe the Legate would prove true to his word." Naruto stepped up to the railing, the centurions with him wordlessly doing the same. "This match has proven itself entertaining enough." He rested his arms on the railing as he leaned forward. "We will discuss more later but for now you both are dismissed. Go to your men and await my command."

Both centurions brought a fist to their armored heart and bowed their head before vanishing in twin clouds of smoke.

'Your match has been as enjoyable as you promised it would be Legate but I do not need the outcome to bring a poor end to it.' Naruto's eyes focused on the coughing form of his Legate and his eyes shifted to red. 'Do not prove to be a disappointment to my Legion.'

He had foolishly allowed the disgrace of defeat without fitting consequence once. He would not allow it again.

Only one sentence could fit such a crime. It had proven successful in his newest lands and would prove successful when showcasing the consequences of daring to come before him after defeat.

"Dammit…" Sasuke rolled over from his back to his stomach, not wanting to admit just how much of a struggle it was to do so. "Dammit…" He could hardly force himself up on shaking arms. "DAMMIT!" His rage let him force his body to rise.

He could not get to his feet but he would not be forced to hold himself like a dog on the ground. He could consent to the embarrassment of being forced to be on his knees.

"What does it take to put you down?" Ino didn't let him rise any further even if he could, a solid kick connecting with his chest and nearly sending him back to the ground. His hand shot to the ground and he glared at the Yamanaka as he forced himself to rise back up. She struck him again the instant he managed it. He refused to fall once more.

'Why isn't he down yet?' Ino kicked him again, aiming higher this time, and didn't fight down the satisfaction when her kick to his throat made him fall forward. One hand grabbed at his throat as the other almost failed to keep him up.

"You're too stubborn for your own good Sasuke." Ino let him rise back up partly. He turned his head to glare at her and she kicked him in the face without a moment of regret.

'I don't have the Chakra to use the Mind Body Switch Technique anymore.' She wanted to curse her own mismanagement of her Chakra. She shouldn't have edged the Uchiha on to use the signature technique of his clan and then match it. She had burned through her Chakra like an idiot. 'Asuma-sensei is never going to let me hear the end of it if I don't manage to win.'

His helmet flew through the air and hit the ground with a clatter when she kicked him again, tried to force him to the ground with no success. The hand that had held his throat fell to his side, helped force his body to remain at least partly up instead of collapsing on the ground.

"Just forfeit already!" Ino struck him again, blood striking the ground in a number of strands. "You've lost!"

The Uchiha told her his refusal when he refused to open his mouth. She kicked him again to show her disapproval of such an action.

"He should forfeit." Shino's voice carried over to the other participants. "With the drugs Ino used on him, he doesn't stand a chance of even standing back up. He's only making this worse for himself the longer he wants to refuse."

"My Legate will never forfeit the match you fool." Naruto's voice was louder than Shino's even if he spoke lower than him. His red eyes never left the form of his Legate as Ino's blows left him more and more battered, split more of his blood. "To bring the disgrace of defeat to my Legion is the same as to invite death to your doorstep. He knows such a thing awaits him if he is to forfeit and understands what must be done. Victory is his only option, death will be his punishment if he dares to forfeit. If the girl has the stomach to beat him to death then so be it." His eyes turned to Ino. "Perhaps she would make a more capable Legate even. She possesses an almost frightening intelligence with her plan and she has other desirable traits. The ruthlessness necessary to kill a beaten foe is perhaps the one quality my current Legate lacks."

"How can you say such a thing Naruto?" Lee looked to Naruto with something approaching disgust, a completely foreign expression on the usually energetic and friendly Genin. Few could say he was the same after what had happened with Tenten but the disgust he looked at the Genin with was new. "I thought I understood you but I see I was wrong. I have no problems with you despite everything I have heard about you but I will not sit here and allow you to speak words such as those about one such as Sasuke Uchiha! He may be my rival but I have seen a dedication like no other, will rarely glimpsed, and more in eyes that once lacked all but hatred and pain! Is the life of one so loyal to you so easily dismissed by one like you! He devotes his very life to your cause and you consider it as nothing but expendable?"

Naruto laughed. It was nothing but a chuckle but it spoke volume without him speaking a single word.

"Of course." Naruto rose from where he leaned against the railing. He rose to his full height and the room seemed to get smaller. "The life of one, the lives of a hundred, of a thousand, no quantity truly matters when one is in my position. If death claims one weakling or another, I am not concerned with them or their pitiful life. Death simply shows me any who fall to it do not deserve to live on the lands of my grand Uzumaki Empire. If death itself would not take one so weak, the countless blades of my Legion shall send one to death for daring to bring defeat to the name of my Legion, to my name." His eyes focused on his Legate as Ino continued to strike him, try to force him to surrender from the pain. She was failing. "If my Legate is to die, he was unworthy of leading my glorious Orange Legion, of seeing my grand Uzumaki Empire, and being in the presence of a Caesar like myself." Naruto's eyes seemed to shine as more and more blood was drawn from his Legate, his struggles to rise useless. "If my Legate is too weak to triumph in the Chunin Exams, he was never deserving of his title. The Yamanaka will be doing him a favor by killing him here and now. I would not be so kind as she."

"How can you dare to call yourself a Shinobi of Konohagakure when you speak words that are the very antithesis of the way of the village?" Lee left where he was standing. He walked towards the armored Genin. "How can you throw away your comrades so easily? How can you stand to look at yourself knowing you are nothing but an insult to the title of Shinobi?"

Naruto was silent. Lee glared at him. The Uzumaki turned.

Power washed over them all.

"You do not address me properly." Red eyes locked with Lee's, dared him to speak again and he didn't. "I am a Caesar."

He did not speak to the Genin again. All was silent as he turned back to the match.

"Give. Up." Each word was accompanied by another kick to the face, Ino hardly restraining herself from stomping the Uchiha's head in. "The match is over! You've lost!"

"Tch." The Uchiha could see his reflection in the blood on the ground below him. "You must not understand anything yet Yamanaka."

Coal black eyes shifted to red and black.

She struck out at him again only for a hand to catch her leg. She tried to pull away but the grip proved crushing.

"I could have ended this match at any time but I chose not to." The Uchiha looked up at her and his Sharingan burned with hate. "But now?" Despite the drug in his body, the more than one explosion he had been in the center of, and the beating he had just taken, the Uchiha slowly rose to his feet. "Now this match is over."

"W-What the hell are you?" Ino tried to pull away but she could only scream when a crack came from her leg. The Uchiha had effortlessly broken the bone. "H-How the hell are you standing?" She managed to scream the question through her pain and Sasuke gave her a bloody smirk.

"The answer to both of those questions is simple." He pushed her away. He seemed to tower above her as she struck the ground. He laid a hand on the undrawn blade at his side. "I am the Legate of the Orange Legion." He looked down to Ino. "I am expected to stand."

Smoke bombs, hastily drawn out by Ino, concealed her from sight. By the time the smoke dispersed, she had vanished to elsewhere in the arena.

Red and black eyes discovered where she had gone with ease.

He drew his blade from his side at last. Chakra consumed the blade with an almost roar.

"Playtime is over Yamanaka. Prepare for your defeat."

* * *

AN: Nothing still.


	36. Rock Lee vs Kankuro

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter Title: Rock Lee vs. Kankuro!

* * *

"What's wrong with those two?" Asuma brought his hands up to his face, grit his teeth, and tried to control his building anger. "Why can't he just give up?"

He would actually receive an answer to such a question. It would be during near chaos in the future but it would be an answer.

"You shouldn't be standing." Ino hadn't given up the fight yet. Sasuke had unleashed an arc of Chakra to cut down the tree she had hid behind but she moved on one leg with surprising dexterity. "The drugs should have made you pass out by now."

"Why do you fight Yamanaka?" The Uchiha held his arm out to his side and his shield appeared on it in a burst of smoke. "Is it for personal pride or the pride of your clan? What?" The Uchiha brought the flat of his blade against his shield, careful to keep the expanded edge from Chakra away from the surface of the defensive instrument.

"What kind of question is that?" Ino used one hand to throw a barrage of shuriken forward. The other drew an explosive kunai that was cleaved in half midway between the two Genin. She glared at the Uchiha across from her. "Just finish this fight already!"

She refused to let any of the building tears in her eyes fall. It was commendable.

The crushing realization that it was to know that all her training, all her preparation, and all her planning was worth nothing in the end, hadn't given her the slightest chance of actually winning would be crushing to most who found themselves in such a position. The grief anyone else would feel, the helplessness that would consume them when faced with such knowledge, and the despair that would drown them wasn't being felt very strongly by her if at all.

She refused to feel anything but rage instead. Rage at the Uchiha for stringing her along so long, rage at the Chunin Exams for making her waste her time, rage at the Hokage for having the village host the exams, rage at the Kazekage for entering Shinobi, rage at Sakura that was quickly replaced with a burning rage for Naruto and his clones, rage at her father for putting her in the Academy and making her think she could win, and, most importantly, rage at herself for being so blind.

"Hmm?" Naruto frowned for a moment before smiling. He seemed to have come to a decision concerning something. "I see."

"If you insist." The Uchiha vanished from sight.

Ino closed her eyes.

'I guess I couldn't do it, Asuma-sensei.'

"Dammit Asuma!" A kunai pinned him to his seat by his Flak Jacket. He tore it out in seconds but it was seconds the clone of Anko took to reach him and unleash snakes from her sleeve to bind him to his seat. "Don't do anything that stupid for the kid."

"Let me go Anko." Asuma's attempt to brute force his way through the grip of the snakes failed. They hissed, one rose its fangs up to his neck, and they all tightened their hold on him.

"Not even a chance of that happening." The clone of Anko sat back on the back of the seat behind her. "You want to go down there and kill that kid down there, don't you?"

"Of course I do." She blocked his view of the arena even as the real Anko dropped down from her perch and rose her hand into the air.

"Tch." His weapons vanished as he stood over the unconscious Ino Yamanaka. "I shouldn't have let that last so long." He looked to where the participants stood, awaiting their own matches, and his eyes quickly found the form of Naruto.

"I hope that was entertaining Caesar." He could hardly stand. He realized that now. His arm shook as he brought his fist to his heart. He hardly knew if the Uzumaki could hear his whisper as the world around him became something else. Colors dulled and brightened, shifted into shapes and then into blurs. Everything was consumed by darkness as his eyes closed and his body fell. His mind was already gone, already far away in the darkness that took hold of his sight.

Sasuke Uchiha collapsed onto his back across from Ino Yamanaka.

"Man, I wanted to make this decision a bit more dramatic." Anko looked to the two unconscious Genin before crouching down next to the Uchiha and raising a limp arm. "Sasuke Uchiha wins his first round match against Ino Yamanaka. He advances to the second round."

Medical-Nin approached both unconscious competitors and Anko dropped the Uchiha's arm back to the ground. Both, with some effort on the team moving the Uchiha, were placed on stretchers and carried away from the arena. Red eyes followed the stretcher bearing his Legate for only a moment before their owner chuckled.

"That was entertaining enough Legate." Naruto's eyes moved to the proctor of the Third Stage of the Chunin Exams as she barked orders to several Shinobi. The next match would be postponed until the arena was repaired from the minor damage it suffered.

'I've got to talk to him.' Shikamaru wanted to move over to the Genin when he was hidden from them all by a cloud of smoke.

"See to the Legate's condition. Inform me if he is unable to compete again." The four Praetorians kneeling on the ground nodded their heads with a fist over their heart before vanishing. Naruto's eyes had never left the Tokubetsu Jonin that directed the Shinobi below.

'Later. I've got to go check on Ino first, make sure she's alright.' Shikamaru left the room without speaking a word. 'I'll talk to him later.'

He wasn't making an excuse. He couldn't focus on the conversation if he was worried for Ino's condition in the back of his mind. It would throw off his focus, he would fail to say the right thing, Naruto would ignore him and tell him to go away. He was thinking clearly.

He wasn't trying to stop this.

"Rock Lee and Kankuro of the Sand, get down here!" Anko called for the next two fighters minutes after he had left. "On either side like the other two."

Both took the steps down.

'I just can't catch a break.' Kankuro adjusted the burden he wore on his back and fought down the urge to sigh. 'I fight a Hyuga in the preliminaries and now I've got to fight another Taijutsu user for the first round. If I didn't know any better, I would say the world's out to get me.'

'If life was, It would have killed me by now.'

"Alright, I don't care how they fight in Sunagakure kid, you both need to show the other the Seal of Confrontation like this." Anko modeled the seal for the foreign Shinobi. "You can complain about it to your dad later but you're listening to me now."

"Whatever." Kankuro made use of the hand not holding the strap over his shoulder to form the required hand sign. "Let's just get this over with."

"Right down to business, I like you." Anko flashed the Genin a smile that unnerved him. She looked to Lee and found him strangely focused. The proctor had read dossiers on each of the competitors the night before and the boy in front of her didn't match the file.

'I would not want to fight him.' She recognized the look in his eyes. She remembered when Gai had worn the same. She didn't like remembering what he had done thanks to it, the carnage he had behind him because of that look. 'Nothing good ever comes from that look.' She raised her hand into the air and looked to both Genin. 'This kid doesn't stand a chance.'

"Begin!" Anko dropped her hand and vanished from sight.

'He's not attacking.' Lee did not move a single muscle. His eyes didn't leave Kankuro but he did nothing else. 'He's a Taijutsu expert, he could have rushed me before I could even reach for…' Kankuro suddenly put distance between him and the Konoha Genin with a single leap. 'What the hell is this?'

For a moment, he felt like he was about to die. His mind was screaming at him to run right now, run as far away from the kid in front of him as he could, and to keep running and running.

The Sunagakure native glanced down to his hand to found it shaking. He didn't understand how this was happening, why it felt like he was dying, as if he was seconds away from death. He looked to the Genin across from him and found he hadn't moved at all. He remained perfectly still. He made the mistake of looking into his eyes and saw his death, saw his broken form, saw what awaited him in the future.

He needed to give up. Now. It was the only thing that would save his life. Forfeiting was the only thing that would stop him from becoming some bloody broken corpse on the ground.

"Do not forfeit." He had just opened his mouth. He froze. The eyes that looked into his weren't those of a Genin. They were the eyes of the embodiment of rage, of hate. The passion that burned within them was focused solely towards destruction, solely towards inflicting pain.

He was glad he wasn't the true target, didn't have such a thing focused on him.

His breath still hitched in his throat, his lungs refused to move, and he felt sweat underneath his hood. He shouldn't be afraid, he shouldn't be terrified, but he was. Death screamed at him, raced towards him, swallowed him whole.

'What kind of Killing Intent is this? How can it be so strong even if it's not even focused on me? I've only felt something like this from It or when Father gets angry. How can a kid do the same?'

"W-Wasn't planning to." His hands trembled. He couldn't stop them. "I was just about to give you the offer." He needed to get control of himself.

He had seen the Genin in front of him in action. Knew he was fast, faster than he thought possible, but he didn't need to beat him when it came to speed. He had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, plenty of weapons, his puppets were masterpieces.

'This guy doesn't stand a chance against me.' He defeated fear with reason. 'So what if he's fast? I don't need to do anything but point at him with the right attack and he's done for.'

"Don't you remember what happened to the girl who fought me? I beat a Hyuga, I can beat some clanless kid like you." Kankuro forced any fear he felt away, focused on his imminent victory against the kid who wore to much green. "You should save yourself the pain and just quit while you can still stand."

"If I was to forfeit this match, I would break my promise." Lee said no more.

Kankuro didn't waste any more time with words either. Actions spoke louder after all.

Chakra Threads took hold of the package on his back. Crow hurtled off of his back, charged forward with the familiar clicking and clacking he had grown used to hearing. Its mouth opened and unleashed a spray of senbon, coated in a new poison just this morning, from the tag placed there. He pulled back, brought Crow to a top and made it raise its arms up. He fired gas grenades behind the senbon, let them blanket the arena in a poisonous cloud he had the antidote for.

'This was too easy.' Kankuro drew Crow back further, let it hover above the ground in front of him. 'I won't have to bother with wasting anymore Chakra with this kid after that. Even if he got past the senbon somehow, all it takes is a single breath of that gas and he's done for.'

He didn't dismiss Crow regardless. It paid to be ready to finish the match whatever way he had to. A bit more blood on the ground wouldn't be worth mention in a while anyway.

"You rely on poisons too much." He couldn't control Crow, it was suddenly hurtling back through the air and straight into him. He backpedaled, threw himself to the side, and narrowly avoided the puppet as it slammed back into the wall behind him. The voice came from in front of him.

He couldn't fine the telltale signs of his poison on the Genin's face. He only found those same eyes staring at him.

'Shit.' He pulled, brought Crow back as fast as he could. Kunai fired from the palm. The eyes turned away from him and to the projectiles.

They were knocked aside with ease. Kankuro backed further up, reached for the scroll at his back.

'I shouldn't use this until the second round.' His hand closed around a scroll he had prepared. He should keep it hidden but his opponent was fast enough to warrant revealing his surprise early. He couldn't advance to the second round if he didn't make it through the first after all. 'I don't have a choice if I want to beat him.' Dark eyes shot to the cracked form of Crow that moved to hover in front of him. The kick that his opponent had sent it back with had ruined some of the more delicate mechanisms there. 'I should keep it hidden but I have one more anyway for the invasion.'

Kankuro couldn't draw the scroll out. A hand took hold of his at the wrist and forced it away.

He was thrown through the air, Crow was sent forward to slash at the Genin with blades sprouting from the forearm. He heard them shatter as impossible as it sounded.

'What the hell?' Kankuro hit the ground on his back but rose back to his feet in time for Crow to be sent hurtling towards him. He didn't see his opponent despite the fact a punch had knocked Crow's head free while a kick sent the body back.

He connected a Chakra Thread to the head, drew it to a stop, and snapped it open. The tags shifted, a fresh rain of poisoned senbon fired down on the ground. He couldn't see him but that didn't mean he wasn't there. The tags shifted again when Crow's mouth closed with a click, it opened and a fresh gas grenade impacted the ground. A purple cloud engulfed the arena in front of him.

'This guy isn't a problem.' Kankuro wasn't lying to himself, he wasn't trying to stop the fear that made his heart race. 'He's going to drop any second with the poison. He couldn't avoid it all no matter how fast he is.'

Crow's head came to his free hand with a twitch of his finger. Kankuro turned it in his hand, saw where the break was, and cursed.

"You know, it takes a while to fix a normal puppet when they break." Kankuro kept a Chakra Thread connected to the head, kept it hidden from sight with the head itself. It would be his last trick if the Genin got to close, destroyed the headless Crow. "It takes even longer to fix mine."

Crow's body darted forward the moment he caught sight of green, its arms fired off as blades revealed themselves. They spun through the air even as the cloak was thrown aside when the chest opened, seals activated, and kunai and shuriken shot forward as a dark cloud.

'Keep it together.' He heard the clash of his weapons against whatever the Genin was using to stop his weapons. He drew Crow back, let the body hit the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, and connected Chakra Threads to the blades in the air. Four of them were more than enough. 'He's on the ropes.'

He had to be.

He was poisoned, had to deal with his poisoned weapons, and the blades from Crow waited for the perfect moment to strike.

'This match is over. Short and simple.'

The blades shot through the air, were deflected to the side. Kankuro's eyes widened when the Genin's form slowed. It wasn't the fact that the boy was unharmed that made his opponent look at him in shock, it wasn't the fact that he still didn't have the telltale symptoms of his poison, and it wasn't because he looked to not even be trying at all.

He was in shock because Lee had used a pair of nunchaku to deflect his weapons.

Nothing should have been able to deflect every single last one of his weapons but Rock Lee had done it. He didn't have a single cut.

Crow's limbless form rose but it wasn't fast enough.

He felt something break when he was powered back through the air. He heard cracks as Crow was assuredly destroyed. He hit the wall behind him, felt his body break stone, and everything went dark.

"Well…" Anko looked into the hole in the arena wall Rock Lee's blow to Kankuro had caused. She glanced back to where the Genin waited to see if the match would continue and she rolled her eyes at the thought.

'That kid is going to need to head to intensive care.' She appeared next to the Konoha Genin and took hold of his wrist to raise his arm into the air.

"Rock Lee wins his first round match against Kankuro of the Sand. He advances to the second round." She dropped his arm and the Genin didn't stay a moment longer in the arena. He turned and jumped back up to the participant's box.

'I liked him better when he was loud.' Anko moved over to where Crow had been shattered by Lee's fist and couldn't help but whistle at the sight of it.

The puppet was the victim of utter devastation.

"He knew what he was doing." The puppet had been broken with expert ease it seemed. She could catch sight of the seals that concealed its weapons broken by the snapped wood, the delicate mechanisms that controlled the puppet's mechanical functions were shattered, and the larger devices that had been installed were of little use.

Anko glanced to the participant's box and found Rock Lee where he had stood at for the first match.

'He's pissed.' She was certain of it now. 'He wants to fight that guy's brother and do the same to him.' She took out a scroll and laid it on the ground, forming the necessary seals. 'I wonder if that's the promise he mentioned.'

"Don't bother." A voice from beside her made Anko hardly fight back the urge to draw a kunai and slit their throat.

'One of the Honored Siblings.' Anko didn't show her shock, only gave a smile to the old woman that was suddenly close to her, gotten so close within the blink of an eye despite her age. She wasn't exactly on high alert but there was still no reason for anyone to be able to get so close without her knowing they were coming. 'What the hell is she doing here for a Chunin Exams?'

"I'll leave it to you then Chiyo-sama." Anko rolled her scroll back up in a flash, her smile never falling as she put it away and gestured with her free hand towards the puppet. "I was going to give it to him but I get why you want to seal it yourself."

"And I thought young girls like you wouldn't understand." Chiyo did it with one hand seal, the scroll unrolled in her hand. Anko didn't react when the sixth sense that had kept her alive on more missions than she could count screamed at her to kill the old woman in front of her.

She squashed it down. She didn't need to be responsible for an international incident. The alliance between the Sand and the Leaf was strained as it was, the Wind Daimyo not helping matters at all when he began fielding missions to Konoha instead of Suna.

'What the hell am I so worried for?' Chiyo walked away with the puppet sealed. Anko's eyes followed her and her fingers twitched, the desire to put a senbon through the old woman's back growing more and more. She had tipped them in poison like always, part of her morning ritual really, and wished she could use them for whatever reason.

The hairs on the back of her neck were standing straight up and she didn't know why.

'Don't do anything stupid Anko.' She slid her hands into the pockets of her coat, let them ball into fists there. 'Keep it together.'

She forced herself to turn away, jump back to where she had been watching.

'She's just a harmless granny.' Anok assured herself of the harmlessness of the old woman as she looked down to the arena. 'Just a harmless granny the Kazekage brought with him.' She tried to stop her shaking. 'Keep it together. She's just a granny. She's not a threat. Focus on what you've got to do instead.'

She couldn't. Her mind wouldn't let her forget the old woman's face, forget the way she moved.

'She's not planning anything. She's not trying something.' Her eyes fell to where Chiyo had stood, followed her entire path. 'I don't know what I'm so worried about b-'

A seal burned where Crow once was. Her eyes caught sight of it with ease. It was hidden, hidden too well for most Shinobi to discover it but most Shinobi didn't have one of the Sannin as their teacher for years. It was child's play to find it for someone like her. Her teacher had made her try harder when he was in a rare joking mood.

'I guess I know why I'm here now.' She didn't know why but the discovery, the path it created in her mind, put her at ease. She had to fight the urge to laugh as he eyes traveled around the arena, took in the presence of Sunagakure 'civilians' and the lack of presence of Sunagakure Shinobi in the stadium. Her eyes moved to foreign faces, eyes that held ill intent, the tension that crossed the faces of too many people to count. She looked to Ibiki, saw him watching the crowd. Saw the way his eyes would narrow, how his face would 'twitch', how he would blink, and she fought down the urge to smile. Her eyes, eyes that could see the barest hints of doubt in her victims, could see fear behind the eyes of the best of Shinobi, and could see the approach of the pale specter of death and know just how to deny it a fresh victim, took in the stadium with a new light. She saw what she hadn't seen before. She saw it all. She couldn't help her giggle. 'We're being invaded.'

* * *

AN: Nothing still.


	37. A Looming Shadow

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter Title: A Looming Shadow

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha laid on the bed he had been brought to and sighed. His armor had been stripped away, his sword somehow taken from the death grip he held on it, and he turned his head to catch sight of the numerous monitors surrounding him.

'This is all unnecessary.' He looked towards the ceiling for a moment before his eyes left it, drifted down as his eyes closed. 'I should be able to view the finals still, see whatever unlucky bastard is my opponent for the next round, and get a chance to see what they can do.'

'But I'm stuck here instead.' He lifted an arm, felt his strength returned even if he wasn't a hundred percent, and looked to his hand. 'I can hold my sword, I can stand, and I can walk but I'm still stuck here. I can't even watch my opponents.' He made a fist. It was shaky but still a fist. 'I should be allowed to leave but they refuse to let me.'

His eyes left his hand, looked to where he knew a number of Naruto's Praetorians waited. His Sharingan had found them despite their rather adept use of the Transformation Technique.

"You shouldn't be awake." He didn't see who appeared next to him, forced any exclamation of surprise back down his throat. He turned his head with deliberate slowness, allowed his Sharingan to take in the familiar figure standing next to his bed.

"I shouldn't have won in the eyes of some but I did. I am, at times, full of surprises but you should know that already." Sasuke refused to be on his back, sat up in his bed.

At least he tried to. Two fingers were all it took to force him back down. His visitor knew he didn't like it, forced to be made to rest on his back like a child. He was powerless in such a state, at the mercy of whatever had motivated the cause of his current state to visit the Uchiha. It was not care for his well-being, the Jonin had never expressed that before. His reason was simple, the Uchiha was enlightened enough of future events to know why the Jonin was present.

The invasion that sought to destroy Konohagakure before the day was over with.

"Don't try to get up again. It's for your own health Sasuke." Kakashi ignored the glare from the Uchiha. His Sharingan took shape in his eyes, glared up at him to no effect. The Jonin didn't care about the hate in the eyes that looked at him. He only cared about the fear, the tiny silver of the powerful emotion, that resided in them. The Uchiha could hide it all he wanted to, the Jonin was more than capable of reading him and others like him with ease. It had meant life or death in some missions and he had survived them all with good reason. "Now, I have some questions for you and I expect an answer to each and every one of them." The fear grew when the pressure grew, when the corner of his single visible eye crinkled. "If you don't answer or decide to lie to me, you won't like what happens." The fear wasn't as well hidden now, it had grown too much to remain hidden within the shadow of hate. "Do you understand, Sasuke Uchiha?"

He didn't need an answer. He didn't expect one in truth. The Uchiha didn't give him one. He was fine with it.

"The first question is simple." Kakashi leaned forward, made it slightly harder for the Uchiha to fill his lungs with air. "How many men does Naruto's Legion have?"

Defiance. Defiance came from a new fear.

"And why would I tell you such information Silver Fang?" Naruto's personal nickname for him, the nickname all member of the Legion had adopted for him as well, was spat from his mouth like a swear, as if it made him sick to simply sound it. "Ca-"

He was frozen for a moment. Kakashi had used the time he spent on his answer, the unwanted answer, to unplug the devices monitoring his condition. Before he could continue, lightning made his body seize up. It was over and pain crossed his face, his body wanted to tremble but couldn't for whatever reason.

"I'll ask again: How many men does Naruto's Legion have?" He wanted to snarl at him, he could see the building anger in his expression. It was dwarfed with the pain he was currently feeling in the end. That and the fear he felt at the idea of more of the same pain.

"Caesar…he does not tell me all." A tongue ran across suddenly dry lips. Fear entered his eyes once more, hesitance followed. He froze again. His body was frozen by the pain he had feared less than he had feared what had birth his hesitance, the pain he should have feared more, and he closed his eyes. "His Cohorts are a thousand strong each. It is a lie. They are all larger." His eyes would not open. "The Third is the largest but…he keeps much of his force in reserve since he fought you."

"Numbers." The pain would return. He needed him to know it would return if he didn't give him what he wanted. "Now."

"The Third is seven thousand strong and it grows. The others lie between two and five thousand. I do not know which is which." His eyes opened. Kakashi saw the fear in his eyes, saw the growing terror. It was close to the border that held only madness beyond. He was getting closer to the edge of his sanity from the sheer fear he felt. "I know nothing else of such things."

He was being honest. His body froze.

"Why didn't you just tell me that at first Sasuke?" The pain was greater and lesser than before. It lasted longer but wasn't as intense. It would be a waste for him to lose his consciousness before he was finished with him, would make all of this a waste. His body returned to his control, his eyes were closed from the lingering pain, and he almost felt regret. Almost. He continued on. "Next question." He couldn't feel guilt with what he was doing, what was necessary. "How does the seal work?"

"What seal?" Sasuke truly did growl those words. Kakashi sighed.

His body froze again. His eyes were wide through, he allowed him that much. He wanted to scream from the looks of it, from the tears pooling in his eyes. He wanted to scream but it was as if his body wasn't his own, he was nothing but a puppet that was given a mind. He wanted to scream but he couldn't. His body was far from his to control.

"Don't play dumb." The pain was gone just as suddenly as it had arrived. The boy's chest heaved as he took in air, his body had broken out into a cold sweat, and his eyes were gaining a wild light to them. He was afraid to struggle. "The seal Naruto gave you, gave his centurions, gave Sakura. How does it work?"

"What seal?" Kakashi could give him credit. He refused to speak on it despite what he knew was coming. It was admirable, showed his loyalty. If this was a different situation, Kakashi would applaud him for such a trait. It wasn't a different situation. His loyalty was a hindrance to his mission.

His body wasn't his again. He couldn't move his eyes this time as they looked without seeing, covered in a veil of pain, he was rendered an agonized statue. Nothing but his mind was his, the rest of his body was no better than stone. He couldn't breathe, couldn't scream, couldn't blink, couldn't move, and could do nothing to stop the pain. It lasted long to the boy, too long.

It stopped.

"How does the seal work?" He repeated his question for the last time.

The Uchiha looked at him. He looked back at the Uchiha. The Uchiha sneered.

"Go ahead." He turned his head away. "I have nothing left to say." He braced himself for agony.

His fingers were removed.

"I guess you don't." The clone dispelled without another word.

"What did you learn Hatake?" Kakashi Hatake stood away from the stadium on top of a rooftop near the gates, his eyes traveling across the still forests he glimpsed past the walls. Danzo Shimura had emerged into the light just this once, a four man ANBU squad shadowing him for his own protection.

"Nothing that I didn't already know." Kakashi didn't let his unease show. He was too experienced to let what he had learned about so recently unnerve him. He was a professional, former ANBU Black Ops Captain, one of the strongest Jonin in the village, and a Shinobi renowned for his skills among even his enemies. "He has a large force in reserve. The exact number isn't known but I'm sure it's something large."

"You know more." Danzo spoke a fact. He did not press the Jonin. "Your dislike of the Uzumaki should not cloud your judgment like Sarutobi's care for what the boy once was has his. Hate can blind just as much as love, I thought you would know that. What information did the boy give you about the seal?"

"He's either more loyal to Naruto than I thought or he's too afraid of what he'll do to him to consider betraying any information on the seal." Kakashi didn't sigh. He focused on the still treetops, let the wind caress his face. "The Genjutsu they've set up is pretty impressive. They fooled our sensors and the barrier despite the Aburame who headed off this morning."

"The Aburame you speak of never arrived to the rendezvous point. I gave orders for them to be put to sleep." Danzo did not hide what he had done from Kakashi. The Jonin wasn't surprised and wasn't angered at what he had just heard so freely admitted by the man known by the title the Darkness of Shinobi. "The barrier team will be a necessary sacrifice for the village."

"They're already dead then." Kakashi just resolved to head to the memorial once this was all over with. He would ask for forgiveness from more comrades he had failed to save, ask more to forgive trash like him. He just needed to add more names to the always growing list that he could never forget. That he hoped to never forget no matter how long it grew, no matter how many names were added today. "You must know more about Orochimaru's contributions to this invasion, right Danzo-san? What should I expect?"

"Monsters of course." Danzo turned, his cane struck the ground. "I will be departing to the stadium now Hatake-san. I wish you good luck."

"I don't need luck." Kakashi focused on the illusion before him, before them all. The treetops were beautiful even if they were fakes. "What do you plan to do about Naruto?"

"You are his sensei. You are a loyal Shinobi of Konohagakure. You will be the one to speak with him." The ANBU did not depart with Danzo. He was deceptively fast for an old man. Kakashi blinked and he had vanished from sight. The ANBU remained. Eyes hidden by masks looked to where he stood and he silently departed.

Any Root ANBU were capable Shinobi. Not as capable as him but they were also devoted. They would die for the village, die for Danzo. He was almost impressed by them. They didn't have to spend hours at the Memorial Stone, see the names that were there because of failure after failure.

They didn't have to fear more names being added because they continued to fail.

'Naruto.' His thoughts centered on his 'student' as he moved away from his position. Almost immediately he was joined by an ANBU. Her purple hair was unmistakable. She saw no need to disguise it, saw no need to hide who she was from her future victims. She craved vengeance. She wanted blood today and she would have it.

"Kakashi."

"Yugao."

She matched his pace. It was the standard ANBU pace. He, or they if she stayed, would reach the stadium in a few minutes.

"Danzo-sama spoke with you." She had been assigned to watch him. He had known ever since he returned from Waves with Team 7. She was good but he was simply better. Some would call him one of the best Shinobi in the world. Others would call him one of the best Shinobi to ever live. He never felt like he was either. A Shinobi as great as he's been made out to be wouldn't have failed so much. He wouldn't have to visit the memorial so often. He wouldn't be so alone. He wo-He would be focused on Yugao and not sidetracked by his thought. "-e tell you?"

"Hmm? I was thinking about life so didn't quite catch that Yugao." He could focus now. He needed to focus with Yugao. Anything he said would be reported. He needed to watch what he said, what he did. His face couldn't even be carefully blank. It would be suspicious. Suspicious behavior would be reported. He would be under watch longer.

"I asked what did he tell you?" Yugao repeated her question with no trace of annoyance. She was used to his behavior. Even when he had been in ANBU, had been close to Danzo Shimura, he had acted close enough to the present him.

"He told me to talk to my student, the one with the army hidden somewhere. Since we're going to be invaded soon enough, he wants me to get him to help save the village. And I guess inflate his ego even more than it already is." He could be candid at least with Yugao. She knew about Naruto, knew how dangerous he must really be. She had to know. Someone had to know how dangerous he was.

Jiraiya obviously didn't if Danzo came to him. Hiruzen didn't if Danzo came to him. No one did if Danzo came to him.

"I'm surprised he was so honest." Yugao kept pace with him still. She stayed at his side. She wasn't his subordinate anymore and didn't need to fall in behind him. They weren't part of a squad. He didn't need to take point as Captain. "You and him must be some of the people who know the most about what's going to happen soon."

"I can guess well enough." Kakashi stopped suddenly. He was close enough to the stadium to find Naruto later. His eyes, his senses, searched for a familiar face and didn't find it. Gai was somewhere else. He must have been somewhere in the stadium, his Chakra signature was coming from inside at least. "I don't know exactly how it'll start but it'll be two fold. The stadium is the perfect place to begin a shock and awe type of attack. It'll draw our unprepared forces away from the walls and allow the true attack to begin nearly unopposed. Our forces will be spread thin, trapped between two fronts. The Hokage will probably be removed from the battlefield somehow, locked in combat with the Kazekage most likely. It'll take a while to restore order, organize our forces, evacuate the civilians, and for our stronger Shinobi to return from patrol."

"ANBU are stationed across the village to prevent this." Yugao had stopped with him. She had been prepared to continue forward but must have read him better than he thought. She had been prepared to continue but had been ready to stop. Her eyes were sharper than he gave her credit for. ANBU was her calling. "Critical security zones are under guard in addition to Shinobi planted in the crowd to direct civilians to safety if the stadium is where the attack will begin. Hokage-sama also has guards. The ANBU Commander himself is somewhere nearby to provide immediate assistance to Hokage-sama should the need arise. The Hokage Guard Platoon has also been directed to remain close by in case of an attack."

"They won't help against the Kazekage. They'll either die or Hiruzen will send them away to assist in the village. Panic will consume the civilians and make moving them a hassle. We'll also need to prioritize the recovery and evacuation of any and all Clan Heirs and Heiresses present at the stadium. Before any Clan commits their forces to the defense of the village, they'll commit themselves to protecting the children. Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka will be the focus of any and all Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Aburame, and Inuzuka Clan members present in the stadium. They'll be taken away before they could be taken as possible hostages by the attacking force located there. Hinata Hyuga will be escorted from the stadium under heavy guard by the Hyuga Clan and any ANBU Black Ops agents already assigned to her protection as the heiress to the Main Branch of the Hyuga Clan. Until all six of them are accounted for and safe, the six Clans will not devote their forces to whatever counterattack we develop while they do so. Once they are, I have no doubt the battle will turn in our favor."

"The Akimichi will be responsible for dealing with the main force due to their Hiden techniques revolving around large damage. The Aburame will be responsible for focusing on more powerful attackers and draining them of their Chakra. The Yamanaka will create a communication system that will enable our forces to be better directed. The Nara will be responsible for enemies deemed important enough to capture alive and interrogate later. The Hyuga, the Branch Family at least, will be spread out to reinforce our remaining forces. The Main Family members will most likely head to the frontline directed by Hiashi Hyuga. Once the stronger Clans join the battle, Konoha will most likely be able to initiate a full force counterattack."

"It'll fail. Orochimaru is also part of this invasion and will be waiting for it. He'll deploy shock troops, possesses a dangerous level of information usual confidential regarding our tactics, will no doubt be on the battlefield and taking part in the invasion himself, and he's one of the Sannin. We'll be lucky to reach the point where we can even begin to consider a counterattack with him present. The Hokage will be occupied, Konoha's stronger Shinobi will be responsible for dealing with Suna's Jinchuriki most likely, and our forces will already be severely depleted from the nature of a surprise attack."

"And none of this is even accounting for any of the Daimyo who will be present. Most with their own security force like the Fire Daimyo's Twelve Guardian Ninja and the usual Samurai. They can only further complicate matters and leave us even more unprepared for the attack."

"Are you saying Konoha stands no chance Kakashi?" Yugao didn't let anger color her tone. She was angry of course. He had dissected the strategy that had been developed in the short time frame between learning of the invasion and the present. She no doubt felt like he was a borderline traitor for telling her it would fail.

"I'm being realistic." Kakashi's eye drifted from the stadium to Yugao. "We know nothing of what we can reasonably expect to be half the invasion force in the form of any and all Otogakure Shinobi, Sunagakure is well known for Shinobi hailing from that village having great specialization and power, and I've learned some of the most revered Shinobi from said village are currently located in the stadium. Chiyo the Elder, a master of poison and master of the Puppet Technique, Rasa, the Kazekage, a user of Gold Dust, the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi, an unstable time bomb, and countless more." Kakashi looked past the mask and saw the fear she could no longer hide. "Konoha, for once, is facing the threat of annihilation."

"And you think Naruto Uzumaki can help our chances?" She asked the question he wished she didn't.

Kakashi turned his eye to the stadium. He felt the Chakra of Naruto, a burning beacon, and did not like what it meant.

The same had happened when they had departed from Nami no Kuni and his Third Cohort had begun transforming into a Legion by itself. The same was happening now, Kakashi didn't even need a Sharingan to sense the power Naruto held. It would be incredible, awe inspiring, if he didn't know exactly who it belonged to.

If he didn't know what he had tried to do to Sakura he would be able to stop hating the boy. But he knew. He knew too well…

" _You will not leave Sakura-chan." The clone watched as Naruto appeared. Sasuke had made sure Sakura didn't leave and both the Uchiha and, unknown to anyone, the clone had been waiting for Naruto's appearance after his match. "I need to speak with you on an urgent matter." Blue eyes turned to the red and black eyes of his Legate. "Leave us for now Legate."_

" _I abide by your will, Caesar." He vanished with the Body Flicker._

" _Sakura-chan." The name poured from his mouth with adoration, he took hold of her hands and ignored the way she flinched. "I am ashamed to see you like this." Emerald eyes looked into blue. The clone watched, moved the metal plate that showed his allegiance to Konoha to reveal the Sharingan. "You have allowed your weakness to show, allowed a foe to triumph over you and for that I should abandon you but I shall not."_

 _He pulled her closer, the clone prepared himself to intervene if it moved much further._

" _I did not wish for others to see that pitiful weakness, I ordered my loyal Legion, your devoted Blossom Guards, to intervene but they could only do so much." He looked at her with eyes filled with love, ignored what the words he spoke did to her. He either ignored them or knew precisely what they did. "You allowed your weakness to show, allowed everyone to see you for what precisely you are." He smiled at her, released one hand to take hold of her chin when she looked away. He was not gently when he forced her to look at him. "You are not one fit for combat Sakura-chan, you are my fragile tree to be protected from sunlight too harsh, winds too strong, and a world far too cruel for you to thrive as you do now. I have provided such protection but it cannot battle against you, cannot fight you because it will hurt you no matter how greatly I restrict them."_

" _Naruto, I don't need you to protect me." His grip tightened. Green eyes were suddenly filled with fear. He still smiled but it was different._

" _Do you not remember your struggles? Do you not remember that your Blossom Guard fell to the last to save you from the hungry blade of Zabuza Momoichi? Do you not know of the power I hold so easily in the hands that hold you now? Do you fail to understand the power I must hold to have my Legate behave like such a well-trained dog? My Legate has already shown you what I did to the mutt I faced, you saw what he himself did to the girl he faced. Do you fail to understand how worthless you are when compared to my might, the might of those we face, and the might of all who dare to call themselves my enemies?" Each word he spoke was greater than any blow. He struck her at her core, knew what would hurt the most._

 _He told her how weak she was. He struck the ever present fear in her heart that she would never become anything because she could never become strong enough to matter. He knew her worries, knew how those fears had taken hold of her heart the longer she saw what he could do._

" _I hold power like no other before me, my Legate holds power few can match, but what do you hold Sakura-chan?" His smile never fell when he saw something break. He pressed for the answer he knew she would give, the only answer his words would bring forth. "What do you hold Sakura-chan?"_

" _Naruto, please…" She could not speak it. If she did, if she told him the answer, everything in her would shatter. "I-I-" Tears came from her eyes. His smile never fell. It grew at the sight of her tears, the sight of his growing triumph over another battlefield._

" _What do you hold Sakura-chan?" He tightened his hold, drew her closer. She was close enough to see the madness in his eyes. "What do you hold Sakura-chan?" He repeated the question that needed to be answered, the answer that would make her his. "Answer me."_

 _A thousand birds screeched._

" _I'm holding lightning in my hand." The clone smiled as he dropped down, forced Naruto away lest he become acquainted with the Chidori. The second clone, one the clone had made, took her away. He vanished a moment later._

'Sakura…' The girl, his only student, watched the matches now. She was at what could be ground zero and he would be so close to her if he went to talk to Naruto. He needed to talk to Naruto regardless. He needed to know what the boy would do. He needed to know for the village more than himself. 'I'm…I really wish I had been a better sensei to you.'

"We'll have to see." There was no point wasting anymore time. He needed to do it now. The match was over with. Naruto's was next.

'I hope he's reasonable about all this.'

He had to be reasonable, he had to see the shadow of war that swept over Konoha. He had to know what it meant for them all.

Why did Kakashi feel as if the boy would be fine watching the village burn? Laugh as blood filled the streets, smoke filled the air, and death's hungry specter took hold of so many? Why did Kakashi feel that Naruto would want to see such a sight?

His feelings hadn't lied to him before, helped him escape countless dangers, but he wished they were wrong now.

He knew they weren't but he wished they were. The village shouldn't feel the sting of another of his failures, only he should be the one to pay.

* * *

AN: Nothing still.


	38. Naruto vs Neji

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter Title: Naruto vs. Neji

* * *

'Naruto should be waiting to head down in a few minutes. I've got to talk to him before he fights Neji. Probably won't be able to stand after that match, probably be angry too.' The Nara was determined to speak with his friend. No, he was determined to get his friend back. 'I can do this. I have a plan, thought of it while I was fighting that girl.'

The match was fairly standard in a lot of ways. She knew about his technique, knew the limits of it, and he had tricked her. He had ended up threading his shadow through the shadows of all the weapons her brother's puppet had launched. Connected it behind her when she thought she was safe behind her fan and the line she had drawn. He had her beat. Everyone knew it.

Then he had forfeited.

"Temari of the Sand wins her first round match against Shikamaru Nara. She advances to the second round." Anko's voice, near laughter, followed the dark haired Nara as he walked up the steps to where the other participants waited and fought the urge to yawn as he neared the top of the steps.

'Need to talk to him before Neji beats him.'

He didn't need to go far at the end.

"Your showing was impressive Nara." Shikamaru looked to the armored blonde that had been waiting for him at the top of the stairs with a smile. "Your mastery of the battlefield and mastery of a mind such as yours, is most impressive." The tired Nara didn't know what to think. Naruto was talking to him. He had been planning to approach the Genin. Talk to him. Talk sense into him. Get his friend back.

The smile on his face, the light in his eyes, they told him Naruto Uzumaki was standing in front of him.

"Really?" Shikamaru sighed. "I thought I was unimpressive. I was trying to get out of being promoted with how much of a drag all the extra work would be."

"That is what makes it impressive." Naruto's smile was the same as the one in his memories. The Naruto Uzumaki he knew was standing in front of him. "You had your opponent defeated, made her experience the utter anguish of knowing there was nothing she could do to challenge her fate, and you allowed her to suffer such mental anguish before showing her how powerless she truly was against you." He chuckled, filled the room with the sound. "You showed her how pathetic she was with such a disgraceful victory."

"I guess I did." This was wrong. The Naruto Uzumaki he knew wouldn't talk like this. He wouldn't laugh at what he had done.

" _What the hell do you think you're doing Shikamaru! What happened to being my right hand guy? I can't have a Genin be everybody else's boss!"_

He should have been shouting at him, call him a lazy ass, he should be complaining about the noise he was making. He should be trying to go to sleep, tell Naruto to worry about his own match. This shouldn't be happening. None of this should be happening.

He should be the one talking. He should have seen that smile, the light in those blue eyes, when he knew he had his friend back. He shouldn't be seeing them now. They shouldn't exist now. They should still be trapped in the past. Trapped beneath the mask Naruto was wearing, hidden away thanks to whatever had made him change like he had.

Naruto Uzumaki shouldn't be standing in front of him. The crazy stranger that wore his face should be.

"You should take more pride in such an achievement Shikamaru Nara as it is all you have." Danger. His senses screamed to him danger when Naruto laid a hand on his shoulder. It felt like a crushing rock, felt cold. It made him want to fall but he wouldn't. He had to stay standing, look at the Genin across from him. "Defeat is still a disgraceful thing."

The hand on his shoulder was heavy. The despair he felt was heavier on his heart.

'Naruto…' He could see finally. He saw Naruto Uzumaki where Naruto Uzumaki stood. 'Naruto…' He didn't know how he wasn't crying. 'Naruto…'

The past was the past. Naruto Uzumaki was, and always had been, standing in front of him. There was nothing he could do. He could finally see the truth for what it was, see Naruto Uzumaki as Naruto Uzumaki and nothing else.

'This really is you. There's…There's no point talking to you, is there? There's no point talking to you because this is you, right?'

The blue eyes that had once belonged to a friend stared at him. Something slipped away and he turned away before he could see what laid within.

"Allow me to show you what true victory is." He stepped past him. Shikamaru remained where he was.

"Naruto…" His voice was a whisper. Only Shino cared to look at him. Lee was focused on watching the arena outside, Gaara stood by himself and his eyes followed only Naruto, and Neji was waiting for the proctor to give the announcement for the start of his match. "Why?"

He wouldn't receive any answer.

"You!" The Suna Kunoichi stormed towards him. Her eyes were filled with fury, embarrassment, even a silver of fear. "What the hell do you think you were doing out there?"

"What?" Shikamaru forgot about Naruto, turned to the enraged girl who ripped him off his feet by his jacket. "What did I do to piss you off so much?"

"You know exactly what you did!" Temari shook him, he didn't try to fight it. Too much work to fight an angry woman. "You had the match won, out maneuvered me the entire time, and you just gave up in the end? You sprouted some bullshit about not having Chakra but you lied so what made you quit?"

"I wasn't lying." Shikamaru wasn't concerned when her grip tightened. "I don't have a lot of Chakra, I couldn't pull the same trick off in the second round so why even bother? I would only embarrass myself in front of a bunch of people so I forfeited."

"If you were going to forfeit, why did you waste so much Chakra?" Shikamaru wouldn't admit it now but this girl, Temari, knew the right questions to ask. She was moving him into a corner just like how she tried to put his back against the wall for her Wind Release techniques so he would have nowhere to run. "You planned a counter to my every move, lured me to the perfect spot, and trapped me with your shadow before I could figure any of it out." She drew him close, almost uncomfortably close for the Nara. "Why do all that if you were going to forfeit in the end?"

"I guess I thought I could win when it started." Shikamaru did his best to shrug his shoulders. "Can you put me down now? I want to catch up on my sleep while this thing drags on."

"This isn't over." She threw him back, his feet hit the floor, and he let himself fall against the wall. She stormed away. He knew she was heading off to check on her brother in the medical area. He had wanted to do the same when it came to Ino but his match had called him to the arena halfway there. She probably would have been there with him if another match took their spot.

His eyes moved to their red headed brother and he couldn't help but shake.

For some reason, he knew the boy didn't care about his family.

"That almost turned nasty." Shikamaru looked up as Shino leaned back on the wall he had slid down. "I hope you're alright."

"I'm fine." Shikamaru let his head rest on the wall. "Are you alright with your match coming up soon?"

"I am prepared as I can be." Shino joined him on the floor a moment later. "I trained with my father and he replicated Gaara's techniques. I believe I have the proper strategy."

"Good to hear." Shikamaru let his eyes drift close.

He didn't get any sleep.

"N-" Anko didn't get to clarify which name she was calling first before the two Genin were on either side of her. Neji looked at Naruto with nothing in his eyes and Naruto's blue eyes held only amusement at the sight before him. Neji's eyes narrowed, the only sign that he would enjoy turning the amusement in those eyes into nothing but agony and despair.

And then finally have them show nothing at all.

"Alright kiddos, before you start, the Seal of Confrontation." Anko's demand was met with laughter from Naruto. He refused to do it with such an outburst.

"Do you truly believe I view the boy before me as equal enough to have my respect? He is nothing but an enemy to be crushed." Naruto laid a hand on the hilt of his blade, his eyes shifted to Anko and he chuckled once more before he spoke again. "I refuse to view this cretin as anything but my foe. He is not an ally and we shall not be comrades once I defeat him."

"You don't want to be a Chunin then?" Anko responded back, turning to face Naruto and laying her hands on her hips. "If you don't do it, you get kicked out the Exams."

"Truly?" Naruto looked to her and she nodded, a smile on her face. "I will solve this then."

The Praefectus Castrorum appeared in a burst of smoke, kneeling before Naruto.

"Caesar."

"My clones are me. He will perform the seal."

"I don't care." Anko turned to Neji, jerked her thumb towards Naruto. "Do the same and you two can fight."

Neji's eyes didn't leave Naruto as the Praefectus Castrorum and the Hyuga exchanged the Seal of Confrontation. The Byakugan took hold of his eyes as Anko looked back to Naruto. The Praefectus Castrorum vanished from sight and Naruto looked to Neji with bored eyes.

"I hope you two kill each other." Anko's smile was wide and her voice cheerful. "Now start!" She vanished.

Neji struck with a basic Gentle Fist strike, Naruto blocked it with the flat of his Chakra coated blade. The two broke away before anything else could be done and the Hyuga observed the Uzumaki for a moment with the abilities of the Byakugan. He seemed to see something as he smirked.

"This may not be as boring as I thought." Naruto spoke no words to Neji's taunt. He simply shifted, faced Neji with his side, extended his blade towards Neji, and brought a hand across his chest. In the same way his Legate had beckoned Ino to attack, Naruto did the same now.

Neji answered him. A trio of kunai came forward first, Naruto easily knocking aside two and dodging the last with a single step to the side. Nei was upon him then, unleashing three blows of the Gentle Fist Taijutsu style that did not care for armor or size. His Byakugan allowed him to target the small tenketsu invisible to most Shinobi. He aimed for the arm.

'The same way I planned to beat the Uchiha.' Neji struck the arm three times in the time it took one to blink. He drew back and looked on as Naruto looked at the armored arm, saw nothing wrong with it.

"Your technique will not work against me." An aura of Chakra consumed his arm. Neji ignored the burning blue glow that filled his enhanced eyes as he threw another kunai forward, his eyes following it and the sword wreathed in Chakra that sliced it in half with ease. "Your Chakra is like a twig attempting to dam a river."

'He's using his Chakra to remove any block I place.' Neji's mind ran a mile a minute. A solution came to his mind by the time he had taken three steps forward.

Naruto's sword was aimed for his fingers as the blonde Uzumaki reached him first, the raze sharp arc of Chakra it created with its swing not something the Hyuga wanted to face. It was a razor sharp crescent he narrowly avoided by turning to the side and Naruto pressed his attack. Neji recovered before he could be caught unaware, even with such a thing impossible with his Byakugan focused on his sole opponent. He dodged a thrust to his stomach, dodged a swing aimed to cleave his head in half from the end of the thrust, stepped back from a downward swing aimed for the blade to cleave into his shoulder, and dodged the swipe to the side by leaning his body back while putting a few steps worth of distance between himself and his opponent. He was about to press the attack as Naruto was in a brief recovery phase when the Uzumaki seemed to take note of such a thing. Chakra surged across the blade in that moment, easily seen by his Byakugan. A second arc of Chakra came towards him with a swing of Naruto's blade at speeds most would fail to react to but he took in the entire technique, from start to end, with his Byakugan within moments.

A single blow from his fingers let Chakra lance through it as was customary of any strike using the Gentle Fist style of Taijutsu. The attack was dispersed as a blue mist that failed to even disturb his long hair. It could no longer rest in the air, lacked the shape to cut through it, so settled around him at his side before vanishing from sight as it grew to lack the necessary concentration to remain visible. Naruto looked at him for a moment before grinning.

"I wonder how many more times you can do that Hyuga." Naruto moved his sword out to the side, Chakra ignited across the blade like it was a flame instead of what it truly was. Neji knew he, and the arena, were bathed in an azure light from the power running from Naruto arm, into the sword in his hand, and out to the world as an aura around the blade. It grew brighter. He did not look away. The Byakugan showed him the Chakra surging from the Genin to the weapon in his hand. It was the prelude to some attack but he didn't know what. He could hardly keep his focus with the sheer amount of Chakra gathering before him. It was only a drop from an ocean of power somewhere within Naruto.

'So much.' Neji had never seen so much Chakra in truth. Not even from the rare times Gai had gone further than he needed to on mission. Not even when he had unleashed some of power that had made him renown as the Green Beast of Konoha and a worthy rival equal to Kakashi Hatake. 'How can he have so much Chakra when he's so young?'

"Show me your skills Neji Hyuga! Show me how many you can stop!" Naruto slashed to his other side.

A wall truly did come towards him this time. The Chakra Naruto threw into the swing bathed not only the arena but the seating area in azure light, showed everyone a taste of his power. A blue beacon of light shined into the sky from the stadium, allowed all around Konoha to see a glimpse of the might of Naruto Uzumaki.

'No choice then.' The Byakugan showed him all. It showed him the range of the technique, where the power had been focused, and how dangerous it was to even attempt to stop. Neji had no choice as escape to the side, to the air, was impossible.

He could only 'escape' the attack by facing it head on. He did not shy away from the challenge in front of him. He almost welcomed it as the veins around his eyes bulged.

"Allow me to show you a glimpse of the fate that awaits you Naruto Uzumaki." Neji entered a specific stance, the same stance he had entered in his match in the preliminaries. Chakra burst to life around his hands, did not match the ferocity of the inferno that burned around Naruto's sword but it cloaked his hands in a blue haze. "Your attacks, like all others, are nothing when they come against the powers of my eyes, the eyes of the Hyuga Clan!"

Neji surged forward and met the wave of Chakra.

"Eight Trigram Vacuum Palm!" He didn't strike the wall with his palm flat on it, they were angled, the force of the blow was dispersed across the wall. It was rendered unstable.

"Two palms." He truly did strike with two palms, powerful blasts of Chakra rippling across the wave and further dispersing it, further weakening its ferocious might but Neji could not advance. He hadn't even brought the wall Naruto had so casually unleashed on him to a stop.

"Four palms!" He struck with four palm strikes, four powerful waves of Chakra rippling over Naruto's attack once more and blue eyes watched in delight as the attack was weakened. He nearly laughed as Neji still was forced to backpedal form it.

"Eight palms!" Eight blows came against the wall of Chakra that still remained, eight blows came and it at last began to truly show signs of damage. It bulged, its entire form bulged and began to slow. Its unstoppable path was still proven true as it was not yet stopped. It was slowing.

"Sixteen palms!" Neji struck out once more, his strikes impossible to follow. Each further distorted the wall Naruto had sent against him, further dispersed the Chakra on the edges, and further showed the Hyuga truly was a prodigy.

"Thirty-two palms!" Neji began ripped away the attack at last. Its shell was broken, it was slowed to a crawl, if not stopped entirely, and he continued his attack on it. He gained ground. He began to step forward, force the great wall of Chakra to drag itself back with the force of blows that shook it.

"Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms!" Neji delivered those thirty two hits in rapid succession and without leniency. Each released enough Chakra to kill the normal Shinobi, leave them crippled at the least with their ability to form and shape Chakra obliterated along with their Chakra Pathway System, and the last blow was delivered with a smirk.

He was panting for only a moment before he regained full control of his breathing. He was keeping himself upright at the unexpected expenditure of Chakra but he was standing without issue as the wall of Chakra, the unassailable wall that had been the attack was dispersed into harmless motes of Chakra around him. An azure shower of motes of Chakra was all that remained of the mighty attack that had once been a herald of devastation. Those same motes of Chakra let a shine take hold in the air, created a rainbow as it functioned as a prism to the light around the Hyuga. He let his hands fall to his side, took inventory of his Chakra reserves and found them depleted but nowhere near enough to stop him from fighting, and smirked at the Uzumaki across from him.

"Do you see a glimpse of what awaits you by the end of today Naruto Uzumaki?" Neji was a member of Team Gai, destroying the technique would exhaust any other Shinobi but functioned only as a warmup for him. He was ready to continue the fight without a moment to take a rest he did not need. "Your techniques are powerless against the might of the Byakugan, against my technique you are trapped in a hopeless match. Fate has decided the outcome already and it is only your complete defeat Naruto Uzumaki."

"You have stopped one attack Hyuga." Naruto returned his sword to his side, stretched out his arm once more. "I did not command you to show me how you could stop one of my attacks with the ocular might of your Byakugan and your skills with the Gentle Fist you Hyuga are known for. I commanded you to show me how many of my attacks you could stop." Chakra reignited across the blade, an azure flame of Chakra burned away from his hand and coated the sword in its shining embrace. He smirked at the look that crossed the Hyuga's face, the fear that came across his face no matter what he did to try and hide it from his sight. He chuckled as the flame burned brighter, the power flowed with less restraint, and he allowed a glimpse of the ocean of might he held. "I will not be denied and will have my answer before the end of this match."

"Now stop the second one!" Naruto slashed to his side. A new wall of Chakra roared forth. It filled the arena and filled the seats with its intense light, fired a beacon into the air that announced its presence to the entirety of Konoha, and came towards Neji with almost savage excitement despite it not being able to express such a thing. It was simply a new mass of Chakra unleashed by the Uzumaki against his opponent. It was nothing but a new test for the Hyuga while the Uzumaki amused himself with the match.

'It's the same as his first attack.' Neji readied himself, knew he could not perform the same technique at the same intensity twice to destroy it. He could do it of course but it would be a massive waste of Chakra when his Byakugan showed him a better way, one that allowed him to keep more of his reserves.

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!" Neji threw a palm forward, unleashed the forceful attack against the wall as he raced forward after it. Naruto rose an eyebrow at the sight, at the Chakra that leaked from across the Hyuga's form as blue wisps.

'Impossible.' It did not show on his face but surprise and rage filled Hiashi in that moment as he looked upon the boy beneath him. His Byakugan, one of many of the Hyuga in attendance, activated to take in the sight before him in detail. 'That is a technique exclusive to the Main House! A member of the Branch House could not possibly know it! Especially one so young!'

'Neji.' Hina couldn't help but feel pride at the boy who fought in the arena. 'You have no idea just how much you've helped the Branch House, how you've helped us all.' She fought down the smile that wanted to come across her face.

'That's impossible!' Hanabi Hyuga was of the same mind as her father but her young face showed his anger. 'I haven't even mastered that technique yet! How can some boy from the Branch House have it?'

'You're a genius neji.' In one of the seats next to Hiashi, Hinata fought her urge to smile and she nearly failed. 'You can't beat Naruto-kun but you're a genius to figure out the-'

"Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!" Neji threw himself into a spin, was blanketed in a roaring dome of Chakra, and struck the weakened section of the wall of Chakra before him.

He ripped through it, emerged on the other side to find Naruto gone as he allowed himself to come to a stop. He held himself at the ready to continue the fight but it was worthless with his opponent missing.

A third wall of Chakra struck the second from the other end of the stadium. They clashed for only a moment before they dispersed each other with twin blue shockwaves.

'H-He moved to the other side.' Neji turned, spotted Naruto on the other side of the stadium. He did not let any new fear color his expression. He breathed as Naruto returned the blade to his side, allowed Chakra to race from his outstretched arm to the blade and ignite a new azure blaze on the blade.

"I told you to stop my attacks Neji Hyuga, not to evade them or to move through them. You were to stop them with the power of the eyes you are so proud of, eyes I am to believe are the strongest Dojutsu in all of Konoha, but you fail to show me such things when you use such a tactic as that." Naruto did not swing his blade once more. He did not unleash a fourth wall of Chakra and see how Neji was to overcome it. He looked at him with something approaching disgust. "You have failed to entertain me as you should have."

Naruto ended the titanic flow of Chakra to his blade, placed it away as Neji was blinded by the azure mist that hung in the air before it moved away. The Uzumaki held his now free hand out to his side and his other joined it on the other side.

A pilum appeared in each hand. Naruto gripped the long weapons towards the center and shifted them in his grip, rested the shaft on his armored arms and left them pointed upright behind him while the blade at the head of each pointed downward. Neji's Byakugan allowed him to see the power that was swiftly spreading from his hands to the blade at the end of the weapon he held in each. The Uzumaki shifted his stance, spread his feet out, and hunched himself slightly with a grin on his face. Power took hold of the weapons then, burst to life as a flaming blue aura, before it faded and they were left plain once more.

"I'll have to entertain myself another way it seems."

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AN:...Why do I even put this here if there's nothing?


	39. Fate

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter Title: Fate

* * *

"Ugh…" Ino slowly opened her eyes, blinking rapidly at the too bright light above her. She rose an arm up and covered her bright blue eyes with it. "My head…" She attempted to roll on to her side on the bed but her leg protested such an action. Even numbed, it still prevented her from moving. She could do nothing but lay where she was.

Lay there and think.

'I never stood a chance.' The thought came without any grief or despair. Her mind told her a fact she would need to accept. 'I should have known it was too easy after Asuma-sensei spent so long telling me just how outclassed I was in this fight.' She only felt disappointment that she had let Asuma down. She had wanted to win for him, make it so that he wasn't wasting his time with a girl who should have had her eyes opened years ago to what was really in front of them. Sadly, she hadn't had that happen until fairly recently. 'I shouldn't have spent so much time thinking on the fly. Asuma-sensei told me to get him off balance and I hardly did that. He caught on too quickly, made it worthless when he collected himself so quickly. I should have kept pressing him, kept him from doing anything but waste his Chakra.'

'But I probably couldn't.' The Uchiha truly did have massive Chakra reserves. He was a sure Chunin simply from those alone. They weren't titanic like the Uzumaki in the Chunin Exams but he was certainly eligible for promotion simply because of them. She had some Sensor training and knew for a fact some of the village's Chunin were outstripped by him in terms of Chakra. 'Judging from what I can sense from him even now, after our match, he's still got plenty of Chakra. He's got a lot more than I had at the start of our fight too.'

"Yamanaka." The Uchiha's voice came from across from her. Ino let her arm fall back to her side and shifted enough to lift her head up, catching sight of the Uchiha. She didn't have the energy to glare at him so settled for a passionless stare.

"What do you want Sasuke-kun?" She still used the term of endearment with mockery.

"There's no need to be so rude Ino-chan." He seamlessly responded in kind. Ino took notice of the fact that he was sitting up, his legs hanging over the side of the bed. He lacked his armor. "I can't be concerned for the state of my opponent after my victory?"

"It doesn't sound like you. But what do I know besides the fact that you tried to burn the last girl you fought to death, Sasuke-kun?" She ignored the pain in her leg as she forced herself to sit up. Ino noticed the infamous Dojutsu of the Uchiha in Sasuke's eyes.

"That girl deserved worse than what I tried to do to her." Sasuke lifted a hand, waved away Ino's concerns. "She was an irritation beyond anything else and a fool who tried to match an Uchiha in Genjutsu." He shifted, turned his body so it faced her more. "You were nothing like her. You're far smarter for one and you're stronger than she was by a long shot."

"I feel so honored Sasuke-kun." Ino crossed her arms, rested her back against the metal frame at the end of her bed. "You really know how to make a girl swoon with that smooth tongue of yours."

"If I didn't know you any better Ino-chan, I would think you were insulting me." Sasuke smirked at her. She stared back. "I'm still surprised you managed to wake up so soon. Caesar's match is taking place now and I intend to see his victory."

"Against Neji?" Ino couldn't help but let her head fall back and laugh, ignore the fact that she banged her head on the metal frame behind her back. "If I know anything, I know Naruto doesn't stand a chance against someone like him."

"You know nothing then." Sasuke looked towards where his armor rested and rose from his bed. "I'll be departing there soon enough and I'll be happy to tell you the outcome."

"And you expect me to believe anything you say? You'll lie about Naruto winning with some crazy A-Rank Jutsu." Ino threw the blanket covering her off. She put her good leg on the floor first, noticed the bandages wrapped around her leg. She moved it and winced. She was proud of herself for not crying out.

A little over a month ago and she would have been screaming and actually crying.

"I'll rather see Neji win with my own eyes than trust you." Ino forced herself to get up on one leg, forced herself to deal with the pain coming from her leg, and focused on the task at hand.

Walking on one leg wasn't that difficult, right?

"You should stay and recuperate Yamanaka." Sasuke had dressed in his armor remarkably quick. Ino had certainly taken no more than two minutes to get herself out of bed with her injured leg and he was tightening the straps that kept his armor on his arms. "You're not fit for travel."

"I'm fine." Ino rolled her eyes as she laid her hand on the bed next to her, hopping over to a nearby supply locker. "They're probably some crutches or something around here."

"I'll find them." Sasuke was faster than her with two perfectly healthy legs. He should have been walking with at least a slight limp but Ino wasn't surprised that he could just ignore whatever was bothering him. She was fine admitting she didn't do as much damage as she hoped to the Uchiha currently looking in the open supply locker.

Ino didn't make a further comment in the half a minute it took the Uchiha to find a set of crutches. He walked back over to her and she rolled her eyes at the infuriating smirk on his face as he handed them to her.

A little over a month ago and she would have been jumping for joy at the way he was looking at her.

"You're smug." Ino found moving on crutches to be challenging but something she could manage. She got the hang of them before she got to the door, the Uchiha at her side.

"I thought you would call me arrogant." Sasuke stepped past her, pulled open the door and she did glare at him this time.

"You're that too." She 'walked' past him on her crutches and started down the hall towards the arena.

"I'm honored you think so well of me Ino-chan." Sasuke was at her side after closing the door behind him.

Ino rolled her eyes. She didn't need to look to him to know he was smirking again. She could hear it in his voice.

"Naruto..." The name, despite the situation, was spoken with something approaching fondness. "I should have known you would master polearms too."

Tenten looked on as Neji and Naruto continued to clash, the Hyuga currently on the defensive.

A pilum lunged forward, a Chakra backed blow from the Gentle Fist user stopped it cold. The aura of Chakra around it was dispersed but reappeared in the blink of an eye, Neji unable to capitalize with a second surge of Chakra and shatter the pilum. He dodged to the side to avoid the thrust of the second and stepped back to prevent himself from being closed in by them. Naruto continued after him, lunging forward with one once more but Neji batted it off target with another blow using the Gentle Fist. Naruto wasn't left open, he had risen the second pilum over his head at a slant during his lunge and made use of it. He brought it down in a stabbing motion, impaling the blade of the weapon in the ground. Neji avoided the blow by stepping back from his attempt to strike at Naruto.

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!" Neji threw his palm forward and Naruto grinned as he turned the second pilum in his hand and it joined its brethren in the ground.

Neji could see the truly massive amount of Chakra that anchored Naruto to the ground at his feet, the two pilum preventing him from being forced to bend. The Hyuga didn't need a Byakugan to know the Chakra currently running up and down the weapons strengthened them far beyond their normal durability.

'He's better than I thought.' Neji put distance between himself and the Uzumaki before the force unleashed by his attack ended. Naruto cut the flow of Chakra to his feet and withdrew the two pilum impaled in the ground. 'He's countered everything I've done so far with overwhelming power.'

Neji darted forward even in the midst of his thoughts, striking at Naruto's neck with a Chakra laden hand and being deflected by the flat head of a pilum to the side of his hand. His blow was slapped aside but he continued turning with it, let his arm come in to his chest, and struck out with both at Naruto's armored chest. A spike of Chakra came from each of his fingertips and aimed to strike through Naruto's armor and strike his chest. A surge of Chakra to the area repelled the effects of his blow and Neji drew away before Naruto could cut off his head with the sweeping blades of the pilum in each of his hands.

Naruto pressed forward before the Hyuga prodigy could recover. He lunged forward with both pilums and Neji struck the blades into the air with his palms. He moved to attack Naruto once more, aiming for his neck once again as well, and the Uzumaki leaned back to avoid it. He also brought the sharp edges of the pilums down on either side of Neji.

Chakra released from the nearest tenketsu pushed the blades away at a reasonable cost to the Hyuga's reserves. He didn't bother with trying to retreat again and only continued forward with Naruto's weapons currently out of play. His blow struck true, each of his palms striking a shoulder, and Naruto's grip on his weapons was suddenly nonexistent. They fell to the ground and Neji took the chance to kick at least one away as it flew through the air and catch the second in one of his hands.

A surge of Chakra from Naruto ripped through the blockages Neji's Chakra created in his Chakra Pathway System and the Uzumaki ducked low to avoid the amateurish thrust from his opponent using his own weapon. The blonde was grinning as he rose back up to his full height as Neji withdrew the weapon and shifted his grip on it. He held it more towards the upper half, no doubt surprised at the unexpected weight of the weapon but adjusting to hold it without issue. Naruto didn't bother with summoning a new pair of weapons to his hands.

He merely brought his fist into his palm.

"Your skills are impressive Neji Hyuga." Naruto rolled his shoulders as he brought his hands up in something closer to a boxing stance than anything else. Neji's keen eyes recognized it for what it really was and he didn't approach the Uzumaki with anything but caution. "You overcome challenge after challenge it seems without a single failure."

"Fate is on my side Naruto Uzumaki." Neji threw himself forward, the blade of the pilum dodged by Naruto and knocked aside with an armored forearm. He threw himself towards Neji and his fist met the Gentle Fist strike of the Byakugan user.

Naruto didn't move back but a grimace crossed his face as he looked to his fist and Neji attempted to bring the pilum he had liberated from the Uzumaki into play by sliding it across his armored forearm. He aimed to bring it back and then lunge forward with it again, this time towards Naruto's chest, but the Uzumaki had other plans. He moved his hand and took hold of the pilum before it could be moved pass him. He drew it, and consequently Neji, back towards him with a powerful tug.

The Hyuga released his hold on the weapons and threw his now free hand forward, wisps of Chakra escaping his fingertips as it cut through the air towards Naruto's arm. The Uzumaki noticed his new weapon and immediately made use of it.

He snapped the pilum when he slammed it into the Hyuga's exposed side. Neji didn't allow it to stop him from continuing his blow more than it forced him to the side and briefly left him airborne. Naruto glanced down to the half of the weapons he now held, the useful bladed end, and tossed it away. He didn't care for the broken weapon and instead charged towards the airborne Neji to beat him with his fists instead of anything else.

The Hyuga's arm stabbed through the air like a snake striking its prey then, successfully striking Naruto in the arm and he immediately pulled back.

Chakra was visible around him as it pulsed as an azure aura before fading. The Uzumaki didn't press his attack as Neji landed in a crouch on the ground before hastily rising back to his feet and throwing a pair of kunai forward from each hand as he dashed to the side he had not flown through the air from.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he easily batted away one pair of kunai with his armored forearm and the other two were avoided with contemptuous ease. He looked to Neji and found him now charging him from the side with his arms behind him. Chakra leaked from his fingertips and Naruto drew back instead of engaging the Hyuga.

Neji suddenly put on a burst of speed and met the Uzumaki before he could put any adequate distance between the two.

'I have him.'

"Two palms." They were made to disable Naruto's arms at the shoulder, the Chakra sent there far above the normal amount Neji would place in a strike but he made the acceptance here. "Four palms." Neji continued to strike, further disabling the arms. "Eight palms!" His Byakugan showed him where to strike best to impede the flow of Chakra to Naruto's entire body and he made use of such knowledge. "Sixteen palms!" Neji delivered a powerful palm to Naruto's armored chest. "Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"

Naruto was thrown back, his ability to anchor himself to the ground gone with his Chakra Pathway System surgically disabled by Neji for that exact purpose. The last attack sent Naruto hurtling across the arena in an airborne state before he slammed into a wall.

'The Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms isn't as effective as I hoped.' Neji maintained the Gentle Fist stance he had transitioned too once Naruto had been sent hurtling through the air and his Byakugan stayed focused on his opponent. 'He's already using his Chakra to remove the blocks I've placed and his armor took most of the force of my last blow and his impact.'

Neji resisted the urge to shake his throbbing fingers.

'The fact hitting his armor makes my fingers hurt is also a point of concern.'

'That armor isn't making this any easier for Neji.' Tenten's brown orbs watched the match with an attention to detail many would be hard pressed to replicate. She followed each of Neji's blows and had been sure to keep in mind the state of his hands. 'Despite the Gentle Fist focusing on internal damage, he still needs to strike Naruto with a certain amount of force each time. The armor makes that force increase. He won't break his fingers anytime soon but they'll definitely be sore for a few days after the match. He can't strike Naruto anywhere else either. His armor is there to protect him from much harsher attacks and Neji knows that. He's gone for his neck anywhere and Naruto is quick to defend himself.' Tenten focused on the cloud Naruto had formed on impact with the wall. 'Naruto isn't going to go down from an attack like that and Neji probably knows that as well. He'll be anxious to see the state he's in but it's probably not what he wants.'

"That was an impressive showing Neji Hyuga." Naruto's voice came before his form emerged. He was dirty and his chestplate was damaged but there weren't any more changes to his appearance. He rose a hand to his hair and ruffled the blonde locks, doing his best to dislodge the dirt and dust he knew was there. "You would have defeated any lesser foe with such an onslaught."

"I'm almost not surprised you're standing after that attack." Neji didn't move from his stance. He had created a plan rather swiftly when he knew Naruto would emerge nearly unharmed from his attack and his impromptu trip into the wall of the arena. "It would have surprised me if fate decided for you to be defeated so easily."

"You speak of fate as if it is your ally Neji Hyuga." Naruto strode forward without issue, as if he had not just been victim to an attack from the strongest Taijutsu style in all of Konohagakure. "Fate is not your ally as fate is nothing to a Caesar. Consider fate an illusion you have allowed yourself to live your life in and I am at last the stimulant that will destroy your illusion. Fate has had nothing to do with your life as it was your own might, your own genius that created your present. Even if fate truly did dictate your life, dictate the lives of all, I would find myself excluded from such a force. I am a Caesar. My fate is mine and mine alone to shape. With my might, with my intellect, with my power I shape my present into the next step on my path to the future I know lies ahead of me."

"You've never experienced the power of fate then Naruto Uzumaki, I can clearly see how you hold some foolish idealism. You don't know how cruel fate can be, how powerless one can be to change it, and how fate has already charted out our lives." Neji did not move away as Naruto stopped in front of him. "If you know fate like I have, you wouldn't dare speak as if one can choose their path in life. We are all destined to follow a specific path, play a specific role, and never live beyond that role or step off that path."

"You are a member of the Branch House of the Hyuga Clan." Naruto spoke the fact. Neji did not bother with nodding, nothing in his body language showed he was even accepting that Naruto had spoken at all. "You speak of fate because of the brand the Hyuga Clan forced on you because of the circumstances of your birth. You decry the individual as powerless to fate and I can understand why Neji Hyuga. Fate has been nothing but a cruel beast to you, fate has forced you to live the life of a servant despite the talent the eyes before you clearly see, and fate cries out to you even now. Fate is a demanding beast, is it not? But it is nothing but such a thing, a beast." Naruto lifted his hand into the air, pointed at Neji as he was consumed in an aura of Chakra. "Fate is nothing to my power Neji Hyuga, I have forced the beast known as fate to kneel, I have caged it where it belongs, and I now offer to you the same!"

'What?' Asuma wanted to rise out of his seat. He had a feeling he knew where this was going and frankly didn't like it.

'He can't be serious.' Kurenai took hold of his arm to stop him.

'This kid is hilarious!' Anko fought down the urge to break out into giggles.

'Naruto…what are you planning now?' Sakura wished she could see into his mind and also wished she couldn't. She wouldn't like what she saw inside.

'I should have known you'll offer Neji a spot Naruto.' Tenten shook her head as much as she could. She would have laughed if she didn't have good control of herself.

"Well, looks like he was serious about replacing you." Ino and Sasuke stood together, Ino turning to the Uchiha to catch his reaction. He only chuckled at the sight and turned his red and black eyes to her light blue eyes.

"Caesar will not replace one who is undefeated." Sasuke turned his eyes back to the arena. "I will maintain my position as Legate of the Orange Legion for the foreseeable future Ino Yamanaka."

"Or are you just lying to yourself?" Ino let out her own small laugh at the idea. "Just imagine, Naruto kicks you out and replaces you with Neji."

Sasuke was silent. Rage shined in his eyes for a moment before it was gone. It was replaced by nothingness.

"If Caesar so wishes it, I will concede my position to Neji Hyuga."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying Naruto Uzumaki?" Neji did not approach Naruto, he didn't scoff at him either. He showed no reaction beyond the steely focus he had kept on him since the match began. "Are you asking me to join you, join your insane Legion?"

"I am not asking you to join me Neji Hyuga." Naruto let his hand fall back to his side. "I am giving you the chance to escape the sniveling beast known as fate. My fate, to the countless masses, was as a failure of a Shinobi, a failure in all walks of life, but I have discarded the very notion of fate. I refused to accept it and look upon me now." Naruto's blue eyes shifted to red for the briefest of moments. "People mocked me, decried me as one less than human and a thing, and I had nothing." Chakra surged around him, swept across the arena with enough force to nearly take Neji off his feet. "Now I am a Caesar."

"You only continue to take pride in your self-given title Naruto Uzumaki." Neji shook his head, as if in pity, before he moved towards Naruto with a burst of speed. "I'm tired of this game Naruto, fate will end this match and you will fall. That is your fate."

"So be it." Naruto shrugged his shoulders before he threw his arms out to his side, a wide grin on his face, and his blue eyes shined with amusement. "Come forth then Neji Hyuga, strike me and I shall do nothing to defend myself! I shall allow you to act as fate's champion and I shall be my own! Come forth and show me if fate truly is stronger than a Caesar!"

'This has gone on long enough.' Neji assumed a specific stance as he slowed down in front of Naruto. 'I have to e-'

Pain engulfed him. Fire seared through his mind. He wanted to scream as he fell to the ground

Fury crossed Naruto's face. He strode forward, crouched down next to Neji, and tore off his forehead protector. A mark on his forehead was glowing, Naruto could feel it and knew the damage it was doing to his opponent. He nearly snarled but somehow withheld it. Crimson replaced his blue eyes. Sasuke clutched at his arm suddenly.

"Something wrong Sasuke?" Ino looked to her past opponent and saw a grimace cross his face.

"Caesar wishes for me to act." Sasuke forced the words out through gritted teeth. He forced himself to release his arm and turned on his heel. "He dislikes this interruption to his match."

"…What?" Ino hurried to grab her crutches and followed after the Uchiha when she didn't get an answer. "What are you talking about?"

"This is shameful." Naruto remained crouched next to Neji, his eyelids closed to keep crimson eyes concealed from the world. "How dare those fools who seat above ruin such a moment, how dare those fools who sit above interfere with my match."

"Hey, kid, I need to check on him." Anko crouched down next to Naruto and placed a single finger on the seal on Neji's forehead. She winced as she withdrew it and laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder. She wasn't laughing or smiling as she looked into crimson eyes. "You win kid."

Naruto looked past her, looked to where Hiashi Hyuga sat among the Hyuga Clan.

"Hiashi Hyuga." Naruto's voice was quiet yet it carried to where the man sat. Even if it somehow didn't, the Hyuga's Byakugan let him read his lips. "How pathetic are you?" His façade of calm indifference never dropped but anger shined in his eyes, rage took hold at the sight of the disrespectful boy known as Naruto Uzumaki. "You not only dare to interfere in my match but you do so in such a cowardly way? You dare to stop my match with Neji Hyuga because of what? Your pride or is it the pride of your clan?" Naruto's hand balled into fist as he dropped his eyes back to Neji. He bowed his head, laid a hand on the pained boy's shoulder. "We will have a rematch Neji Hyuga, we will see if fate truly is stronger than a Caesar."

Naruto did not look away from Neji as a demonic power appeared next to the Hyuga.

"I advise you to stop the seal." Sasuke Uchiha looked to Hiashi Hyuga and, more specifically, the seal his hands performed. "Your goal is accomplished." The Sharingan locked with the Byakugan. The Dojutsu clashed but one did not fight the other. Cold indifference filled the red and black eyes that looked into white. "Continue and I will remove at least one hand."

The sky shifted to darkness. The world around them shifted to hell. Skeletons surrounded Hiashi, took hold of him with clawed hands, sought to consume his flesh. He did not allow the Genjutsu to affect him. Blood poured onto his head, consumed him as he fell, and filled his lungs. His Byakugan showed him it was an illusion. The world still shifted. The world forever shifted now.

He released the seal. Sasuke Uchiha broke eye contact and left the way he had come.

"Naruto Uzumaki wins his first round match against Neji Hyuga. He advances to the second round." Anko announced the obvious as the Hyuga was carried away, unconscious from pain. Even now a grimace crossed his face.

* * *

AN:...


	40. The First Round Concludes!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter title: The First Round Concludes!

* * *

"What was that?" Ino moved with Sasuke back down the halls. The Uchiha didn't answer her for a moment before he paused, began to undo the cord keeping a bracer in place.

"Caesar's seal." Sasuke held his arm out to Ino, allowed a black mark to appear to her sight. He covered it just as swiftly as it had appeared, began to retie the cord once Ino had gotten a good luck at it. "His centurions and myself were gifted it."

"You're not going to explain anything else, are you?" Ino's question received the obvious answer in silence from the Uchiha. The only sound was of the movement of the cord as his arm was concealed beneath the armor he wore once more. "I should really be demanding some kind of answer but, for some reason, I'm not going to bother with it."

"You are intelligent Ino-chan." Sasuke began walking again and Ino rolled her eyes as she quickly caught up with him despite her crutches.

She didn't know why she was at ease with her opponent but she felt alright being in the Uchiha's presence so far.

"That…" Naruto struck the closest wall. He wanted to growl but he refrained. He wanted to curse but he refrained. He wanted to take Hiashi Hyuga's head but, somehow, he refrained. He wanted to continue his battle with Neji Hyuga but it was impossible now. He would be lucky to awaken by the end of the day after Hiashi's use of the seal against him. "I am infuriated."

Rock Lee looked to Naruto. His dark eyes narrowed in thought.

'You are not like I once thought you were Naruto.' Rock Lee's eyes almost showed approval. 'Despite the actions you take, despite how you see those loyal to you, and despite that army you call yours, you desire a battle to test your limits. You fought Neji to test those limits and that battle was ruined by his uncle. You…You are confusing to a Shinobi like myself.' Lee resisted the urge to pull at his dark hair. His bandaged fists only tightened at his side. 'You view others as possessions, as tools, but you refuse to see an opponent such as Neji as anything but a foe to be surpassed in a battle between yourself and him. I can almost understand you but you are so callous with the life of others. You do not accept defeat from anyone, not yourself, not those who serve you, and not those you view as belonging to you, but you didn't attack Neji with overwhelming numbers like I once thought you would. You showed him your power, made him show you his skills, and then you fought to match those skills.' Lee's eyes did not leave Naruto's nearly enraged form, his surprisingly high level of self-control being the only reason the green clad Genin could see why he hadn't attacked the Hyuga Clan's head. 'You are confusing Naruto Uzumaki.'

"Caesar." Sasuke Uchiha stepped in through the door he had exited, Ino Yamanaka followed after him. Sasuke dropped to a knee, bowed his head, and brought his fist to his heart. "I have done as you o-"

"Rise Legate." Naruto interrupted him and Sasuke rose without another word. Ino, from where she stood, could swear she saw a sliver of fear enter his eyes before it was ruthlessly suppressed. "The second round of the exams will begin soon. Before they begin, see to it that Neji Hyuga understands he and I will fight again. I do not care if it is with spectators or without. Our battle will have a victor."

"Yes Caesar." Sasuke once again brought his fist to his heart and bowed his head. "I will see to it."

"Then you are dismissed." Naruto's eyes briefly moved to Ino. She did nothing but match his glare. No humor or amusement entered his eyes at the sight of such a thing. His rage remained his focus, his rage remained veiled in his eyes. "Converse with your defeated foe if you so wish it. I do not care for what you do. I care only for my orders being followed." Naruto turned away, moved to where he once watched the matches from, and resumed his silent observation. He did not care that the arena was empty. He distracted himself from his rage with the sight of the sight of what had been an exciting fight before it was ruined.

"Shino Aburame and Gaara of the Sand, get down here!" Anko called up to the viewing box. The jacket wearing Genin rose from where he sat next to Shikamaru and the red haired boy began walking.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Gaara didn't continue as he came near Naruto's still form. He looked at him and some of the Genin actually choked on air. The sheer desire for death flowed through the air, flowed through their beings, and they knew they were nothing but ants to this power. None of them could handle it. Fear, terror, panic crossed the face of Temari. She was frozen despite her desire to run. Shikamaru was shaking, his eyes snapped open as he looked towards the two Genin. Lee was motionless but his eyes were wide. His body would not fall to terror but his mind had, for a moment, lost control. Shino's body shook, the insects within stirred up into frenzy. Ino nearly fell as her arms turned limp, as fear made her cold, and the Uchiha's hand snapped out. She could feel it trembling as it supported her. He was terrified but he could at least move even if it was simply his arm. "Mother wants your blood."

"Hmm?" Naruto shifted, allowed red eyes to meet the teal eyes of Gaara of the Sand. "I hear nothing but the snarls of a beaten dog from your lips." Power filled the space between the two, power roared to life but was invisible. A clash, a clash none could see but all in the room could feel, took hold. "You will need to repeat yourself."

"You will die." Gaara was not afraid.

"My time has not yet come." Naruto welcomed the beast.

Gaara continued on his way. Naruto turned back to the arena.

Death left the room.

'W-What was that?' Shikamaru was almost glad he was on the floor already. He saw Temari nearly fall once the feeling was gone, Lee's body was rigid where it had once been relaxed, and he looked to Ino with worry only to find her supported by the Uchiha. He could see the tremble, however faint, from his arm. 'How did those two do that?'

His eyes turned to Shino, the Aburame still.

'There's no way Shino can win against him.'

"HEY! Get down here before you're both disqualified!" Anko's voice snapped Shino's focus towards the stairs. Gaara had already descended down them without a pause in his step.

"Shino Aburame." Naruto called out to Shino but his eyes didn't leave the arena, leave where Gaara slowly walked over to where Anko impatiently waited. He drew the Aburame's attention regardless of Anko's impending time limit. "What do you say to a deal?"

Several minutes later, Anko glared at Shino as he arrived.

"What took you so long?" Anko didn't expect an answer and once again modeled the Seal of Confrontation. "No more wasted time. Do it or you're disqualified."

She didn't receive any complaints. The two Genin performed the seal without issue or conflict. Shino looked at Gaara. Gaara looked at Shino. Both dropped the seal at the same time. Anko looked to both, didn't find anything amusing to laugh at, and began the match.

Gaara's blood drenched sand burst free of the gourd on his back. Shino's frenzied kikaichu swarmed forward.

Gaara showed the barest hint of surprise when they consumed his Chakra through the sand, consumed more and more until the sand began to fall inert. Gaara did not allow anymore surprise to show, sand burst free of the gourd in a greater quantity and burrowed into the ground. He remained with his arms crossed over his chest, remained where he stood, and the bugs sent against him were consumed by his sand and crushed.

"It's useless to fight me and you're not the one Mother wants." Gaara looked to Shino with nothing, no bloodlust and no desire for a fight. "Surrender if you value living."

"That would be an insult to my sensei." Shino placed his hands in his pockets, the kikaichu settled on the ground around him as a dense dark and writhing carpet. "I can't surrender and look her in the eye ever again so I'll have to fight you Gaara of the Sand."

"Then you'll have to die." Gaara didn't sound like he regretted it. He didn't relish it. He was numb to everything with his focus elsewhere. Sand surged forward, kikaichu leaped into the air and sought to stop it. The sand crushed them, batted them aside, ripped them to shreds. Some latched on, some began to take his Chakra and render the sand worthless as it turned inert, but the kikaichu were not able to stop the claws of sand that ripped forward.

'What it that thing doing?' Rasa kept a careful eye on the match. The dark markings that briefly flashed on the sand were of some concern but they vanished before he could properly do anything. 'Why is he wasting time with the boy? Its bloodlust was supposed to be sated earlier today so that's not the problem so what is? Why is he delaying the attack? What is that thing's idiotic reasoning? Release the beast!'

The signal was his match so why was It not doing anything? What was making it forsake the plan?

The Kazekage's eyes drifted to the participants and he found the watching eyes of Naruto Uzumaki.

'The Jinchuriki. That thing wants to fight the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi for whatever reason.' It was incredibly easy for a man like the Kazekage to piece together the why of what was happening. 'It wants to fight the boy and is willing to jeopardize the entire invasion for it.'

He wanted to curse but nothing showed on his face. His body did not so much as twitch as he observed the match taking place below.

Shino dodged the clawed arms of sand, jumping back as the black carpet moved. It swarmed across the floor of the arena and raced towards his opponent. He didn't expect it to make it. The swarm dispersed when the sand Gaara commanded threw itself onto the ground in an attempt to crush them. The kikaichu took to the air and swarmed around him, formed a near vortex of insects around him. Shino landed further back in the arena and threw his arms out, allowed more kikaichu to escape and settle in the air around him. Gaara attacked those closest to him first of course, his sand lashed out with precision that didn't surprise Shino.

He had seen the battle with Tenten.

Nearly nothing bypassed Gaara's sand.

'I need more time.' Shino sent his swarm out, made it sweep towards Gaara from the left and right as he drew back the kikaichu spread throughout the air. More joined them from one of two packs he wore on his back. They swarmed in front of him as the bugs surrounding Gaara began to attack. The sand fell inert but it was rising back up into the air faster than Shino's kikaichu could drain it. He didn't seem surprised as his hands fell into his pockets as a good portion of his swarm surged towards Gaara in a near omnidirectional attack.

A sphere of sand wrapped around the Sunagakure Genin and the kikaichu were trapped by it moments later. They were crushed and the sphere fell away as Gaara looked to Shino. Annoyance entered his eyes as he lifted a hand from his chest. He moved it towards Shino and sand shot forward.

Shino threw an explosive kunai. He hoped to disperse the sand but it failed when one strand utterly consumed the kunai, crushed it, ripped the explosive tag to shreds before it could detonate, and threw the remains back at him. The Aburame didn't allow the failure of the projectile to impact him in the slightest. He sent his kikaichu forward once more, allowed them to swarm forward once more, and Gaara's sand was there to crush the swarm, scatter it, and then surge towards Shino.

The Aburame brought the swarm around him in front of him, let it take shape as two identical clones of himself before he leaped back with them. The three Shino were a blur in that moment, crossing the paths of the other two until they were certain the original could no longer be distinguished. They broke away. One leaped straight back, the others took up positions on either side of Gaara. Kikaichu sent out regrouped around the three, formed a carpet of darkness at their feet. The three made no movements but the swarm advanced, surged forward.

"That's worthless." Gaara returned his arm to his chest as three strands of sand lanced through the air at blinding speed. Two Shino burst into a swarm of kikaichu and the last faded from sight as Gaara struck the illusion of the Genin. His eyes widened slightly before they narrowed and sand shot into the air before raining down.

'Where is he?' A rarely performed sensory net did not reveal the location of Shino Aburame. Gaara wasn't foolish. He formed a platform at his feet from his sand and took to the air before he could fall prey to whatever plan the Aburame had developed. 'It doesn't matter what he plans. I have an absolute defense. Once he springs his trap, I'll kill him.'

Below ground, in a hollow burrowed out by his kikaichu rather quickly, Shino sat motionless. A shroud of Chakra consumed him as the kikaichu around him began to multiply. Several pockets of insects had formed beneath the floor of the arena where he rested, his insect clones had stood, and where Gaara now suspended himself over.

'I knew I didn't stand a chance but I didn't expect him to be this capable.' Shino had vanished before his clones had performed their scramble, using the kikaichu to hide him from sight as they blanketed the area in a mixture of his and Gaara's Chakra. With Shino as deep below ground as he was and Gaara possessing little aptitude for sensory techniques, he was hidden from sight.

"I'm going to crush the arena." Gaara lifted an arm from his chest and made a fist. The sand he had been forming underneath the arena destroyed it within moments. Shino was too deep to be found. All Gaara unveiled was a black sea of kikaichu.

" _My offer is simple Shino Aburame."_ The kikaichu burst free of the ground and into the air. Gaara's eyes widened as the frenzied insects consumed the Chakra in his sand, tried to consume the sand, and seemed to only grow the more they ate. They began small and swiftly grew in size. _"I will provide you with my Chakra to battle Gaara of the Sand. All you must do in return is provide me with some entertainment during your match."_

The kikaichu ripped through the sand that tried to stop them, driven mad by Shino to attack Gaara, and the red haired Genin looked on with some shock as the bugs so easily ripped their way through. He quickly brought both hands away from his chest and a dense sphere of sand consumed him while more took hold of the kikaichu in the air. Innumerable spheres of sand compacted around the mad swarm attacking him as Gaara clenched his hands into fists. The maddened kikaichu still attempted to swarm forward when Gaara opened and closed his hands before bringing his palms together in his defensive sphere.

"Sand Waterfall Funeral." The spheres of sand condensed, liquefied the bugs within before they began to circle around Gaara. "Third Eye." He shifted one eye close as sand spiraled from the top of the sphere that floated in the air, took the form an eye high above the arena and away from the kikiachu. "Sand Drizzle."

The sphere of sand fired downward as a barrage of bullets. The remaining kikaichu in the air were ripped apart before they could proceed with another attack. Gaara allowed his defensive sphere to collapse, his Third Eye to fade, and allowed his platform of sand to shrink slightly.

"I know where you're hiding now." Shino was briefly revealed before the black ocean below him had sealed itself once more. Blood came from a number of superficial wounds from the bullets of sand and Gaara allowed the gourd on his back to break down into more sand. "Die."

The sand around the arena, buried further than Shino hid, ripped itself upward from the center like a geyser before spreading out to consume the black ocean it had punched through. It covered everything in a solid layer of sand before Gaara let himself drop down from the air and rested his hands on the grainy surface.

"Sand Waterfall Funeral." The sand surged inward, compacted into a sphere but Gaara's eyes widened at the sight before him.

The kikaichu had dug out a cavern somehow. A cavern with branching paths that Shino had dropped himself into to escape his foe's latest wide scale attack. His eyes searched for the Aburame but streams of darkness emerged from each opening, Gaara felt them begin to consume the sand and his Chakra, and felt the sphere destabilize.

'This shouldn't be happening.' Gaara engulfed himself in sand once more, hid himself from sight in a sphere as he was lifted into the air once more. He didn't bother with worrying about attacking, the sand automatically lashed out at the bugs that came close to him. It batted them away, crushed them, did everything it could to destroy the swarm.

"I see it now." Naruto watched the madness of the sand in its offense and the attacking swarm of frenzied kikaichu with interest. "Aburame would have been a match to Gaara's attacks if he possessed more Chakra, if he possessed a greater experience he would win. Their styles clash. His sand is controlled by Chakra and such a thing is useless against the Aburame it seems. His kikaichu will continue to consume the Chakra, force his foe to expend greater amounts of Chakra, and, if who he battled was a normal Shinobi, he would be dead." Naruto didn't chuckle, didn't laugh, he did nothing but observe. "Aburame would have stood a chance against him if he wasn't a Jinchuriki."

"You can't hide from me." The sphere broke down, Gaara clenched a hand into a fist and sand shot down each path. "I'll find you and I'll kill you eventually."

'If I was still below ground you would most certainly kill me.' Shino spoke to himself. He had put Gaara's absorbed Chakra to good use, covering himself in a dense layer of his bugs and sitting within Gaara's sand. It shifted around him but the Sunagakure Genin couldn't detect him any longer. As long as he didn't try a direct attack this way, the sand wouldn't attack him. He was safe for now.

Shino moved slightly, brought his hands in front of him.

'I only have once chance it seems to win.' Shino adjusted his glasses before he burst free, his insects bursting free ahead of him and consuming more Chakra, growing to the size of his palm. He landed on a group of them, took to the air with a Chakra backed leap, and forced himself to rise higher. Gaara spotted him, sand was sent towards him, and the Aburame sent his large kikaichu forward. They were ravenous, driven to frenzy intentionally.

His father had showed him just how powerful they could be when all they thought about was feeding an all-consuming hunger.

"Time to die." Gaara threw his hand forward and clenched his fist, sand moving into the air around Shino. The Aburame showed no concern for it as his kikaichu swarmed around him, ripped the Chakra from the sand with enough force for it to be visible for a moment before it was consumed, and the sand fell to the ground.

'I can't do that again.' He was calm. He had to remain calm to keep the bugs from turning on him. He had a number of females on his person, each excluding a certain pheromone. The multitude came together and rendered the kikaichu docile around him. It required focus to maintain, focus that could not be dropped if he wanted to avoid being consumed by his own swarm.

The swarm surged upward. Gaara brought more sand around him, clawed hands bearing black markings ripping free from the pillars of sand he created. Shino ignored the countless kikaichu they crushed, obliterated, destroyed. He focused on the goal of Gaara and Gaara alone. If he could take him down.

'Damn.' He was too focused. A clawed hand took hold of him and he froze. His eyes widened when dark markings pulsed around his skin, his clothing, and he found himself truly locked in place. 'What is this?' His kikaichu already swarmed to the source of Chakra but he was immediately worried when one landed on him.

The bugs on him were frozen just like he was.

He was now a source of food.

A frenzied insect bit into his hand, drew blood, and Shino couldn't even bother to wince.

'What will give first, my hand or the sand's Chakra?' He could only hope the second gave first. He personally liked having both hands. It would be rather difficult to perform hand seals with only one after all. 'Of course, I could always shape a second from kikaichu or have a prosthetic controlled by Chakra…I would need to learn the Puppet Technique for the best results or would I?' Shino forced himself to remain calm. The bugs would be drawn to him if he stressed himself.

He preferred one to one hundred if he was being honest.

"Admirable." Naruto looked down to Shino, his frozen form restraining the panic others would be feeling if their beasts turned against them. "Shino Aburame is rather impressive, is he not Legate?"

"He is Caesar." Sasuke nodded from where he stood. His Sharingan followed the progress of both the insects devouring the Chakra in Gaara's sand and the bug feasting on Shino himself.

'Shino…where is this power coming from?' Kurenai, for the first time in her life, wished her eyes could see Chakra. She had a suspicion on where Shino had gained such power but she wished she was wrong. Even if it was most likely the sole reason her student had lasted as long as he had. 'I know it's the only reason you can fight like this, match a killer like Gaara of the Sand, but you didn't do what I think you did, right? Please tell me you didn't accept anything from Naruto Uzumaki.'

The sand broke first. Shino squashed the bug on his hand and ignored the way it tore at his heart.

'Sorry my friend, I couldn't risk it. If you had returned to the swarm you may pass on traits undesirable to the swarm. Tastes are at times genetic after all.' Shino slipped his wounded hand into his pocket and ignored how warm his pocket was growing. He focused on the task at hand as the pheromones across his body once again protected him from his mad swarm. 'I was lucky only you decided to sample a foreign Chakra source. If any more had followed you, I would be dead.'

Shino sent his crazed swarm towards Gaara. Gaara responded with a new shield of sand to stop him. The Aburame expected as much and sent another wave of his swarm forward, the rest encircled the arena and several settled on the walls. A moment later they vanished from sight. Shino directed his swarm, having grown larger than he had thought possible, to begin attacking with a new direction in place.

"Secret Technique: Bug Bomb." The Chakra in the bugs bulged, took shape, and ruptured the bug that contained it when they landed on Gaara's sand sphere. The bombardment continued, masking the approach of others to the sphere of sand where they dropped onto it.

'His defense can handle multiple threats but certain things take priority.' Shino observed the fact in action. Hundreds of his bugs were exploding, their carapace turned into shrapnel. The sand stopped them instead of the bugs that gently landed on the sand, allowed it to consume them. Their shells were hardened via the massive amounts of Chakra they had absorbed. It wouldn't last long with what he had planned but it would last long enough.

"Why won't you die?" Gaara didn't scream with madness, he didn't shout in rage, his voice was a whisper of confusion.

"I've decided I won't die in this match. Why? Because I will wait for each of my teammates to achieve the rank of Chunin before I decide it is my time to die." Shino may have been smiling beneath the rim of his jacket or his face could still be blank. It was impossible for most to know.

'Kiba, Hinata, don't think I'll allow either of you to catch up to me easily.' Shino swung an arm up, sent his swarm to attack Gaara to no avail. They failed to burst through his defenses, failed to wound him, but that wasn't the plan. His other bugs would work to make sure their sacrifices were not in vain as they detonated, ruptured from within by the built up Chakra. 'I need to win this.'

Shino focused once more.

'The bugs on the walls are in place.' He briefly focused towards them, felt their muted signature. 'The bugs attacking him are keeping him distracted.' The longer this went on, the larger the blasts became as the kikaichu consumed by Chakra from sand Gaara could not afford to lose. He pumped more Chakra to it to keep it up and, if he was a normal Shinobi, would have exhausted himself by now. 'And the bugs that landed on his sand are about ready.'

"This has gone on long enough." Gaara and Shino spoke as one even if they didn't know it. "Time to end this."

Eggs the bugs that had been consumed by Gaara's sand played host to began to hatch one after the other. The beetle like creatures within began to feast on the unfamiliar Chakra even as Gaara's sand reacted as swiftly as it could. The bugs grew from multiple points, burst through the relatively thin barrier of sand just as Gaara closed his eyes.

'This match is over.' Naruto let his head fall and shook his head. 'There is nothing Aburame can do against this power.'

Shino seemed to be of the same mind as Naruto. He saw what was happening and lifted his hand into the air as the sphere of sand burst outward. Black marks consumed it, took hold of the and as clawed arms began to move through the air.

"Proctor, I forfeit." He turned and walked away without another word.

'I can't fight a Jinchuriki.'

"Ah, it was just getting to the interesting bit." Anko grinned as she landed on the sandy arena floor and reached to raise Gaara's hand. "I tho-Hey, what do you think you're doing?" A wall of sand repelled her hand. She tried again and received the same results. Gaara looked on as she tried twice more with nothing in his eyes. Anko was growing somewhat annoyed as she inched her hand forward and found it repelled once more. She glared at the air before sighing, throwing her hand up in a half-hearted gesture towards the redhead. "Gaara of the Sand wins his first round match against Shino Aburame. He advances to the second round."

* * *

AN:...


	41. The Eve

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter Title: The Eve

* * *

"The second round matches start in a few minutes. Get your breath back if you need to and get ready to fight." Anko addressed the five competitors that had managed to make it through the first round of the Third Stage of the Chunin Exams. "Since there's five of you, one of you has been randomly selected to pass." Anko looked down at the message in her hand. "Rock Lee will advance to the third round without a match. The first round match is…are you serious?" Anko looked to the Uchiha and narrowed her eyes. "Did you rig this thing Uchiha? You're up first again."

"Some believe excellence should be presented first." Sasuke smirked at the Tokubetsu Jonin and she smiled back. Right before a senbon was narrowly blocked by his raised armored forearm.

"I didn't ask for a comment. It was a yes or no question." Her smile never faded. "Anyway, Sasuke Uchiha takes on Temari of the Sand in the second round's first match. Next up is Naruto Uzumaki vs Gaara of the Sand for the second match." A frown spread across Anko's face suddenly. "I wish they didn't use random numbers, your matches would be more dramatic if they were flipped. Family vs family and whatever you two are to each other."

Anko shrugged her shoulders at the missed opportunity.

"You have about ten minutes to get yourselves together. See ya then." She vanished with a smile and a wave.

"She disturbs me." Sasuke spoke all he would say. He looked to Naruto and received a nod before he vanished from sight.

Naruto used the door. He did not travel far until he came to a masked figure leaning on a wall.

"Yo." Kakashi lifted a hand in greeting and as a sign. It meant to stop. Naruto considered ignoring it but his eyes glanced to the shadows, the shadows that were simply too dark, and he came to a stop. Kakashi pushed himself off of the wall and moved to stand fully in his path. "We need to talk Naruto."

"I do not see the point of speaking with you Silver Fang." Naruto laid a hand on the hilt of his sword, his eyes shifted to the shadow that moved. It stilled. "I do not see the point with wasting my time with you and your interrogations either."

"Interrogation is a harsh word." Kakashi let his hand fall to his side, let both rest in his pocket. "I would say it's more similar to intense questioning instead." Kakashi looked to him with a lazy eye. "Now, let's start this little intense questioning with something simple: Do you know?"

"Know what Kakashi Hatake?" Naruto's grin told Kakashi more than the use of his real name instead of the nickname of 'Silver Fang' ever would. His single visible eye actually widened and Naruto's grin widened in turn. He seemed delighted at Kakashi's shock. "I will ask you again Kakashi Hatake, what do I know of? What do I know of that shall happen soon? What do I know of that I can so easily stop if I wish? What do I know that shall bring ruin and death to the village known as Konohagakure? What do I know that fills you with that vile thing known as fear Kakashi Hatake? What do I know that makes you tremble Kakashi Hatake? What I do know that makes even the ANBU in the shadows tremble?" Naruto smile was nothing but fangs, red eyes took in all before him, the visible and the hidden, and it made some shiver. "What do I know Kakashi Hatake?"

"You are infuriating to deal with." Kakashi controlled himself, forced his hands to remain in his pockets and not around the neck of the Genin across from him. "If you already know, if you know exactly why I'm wasting my time with you, why don't you just say it?"

"I have tried to gain amusement throughout the entirety of today Kakashi Hatake." Naruto lifted a hand with deliberate slowness, used it to bring order to spiky blonde locks. "I thought for certain you would know why I would continue my quest despite the hardships I have faced to do so. My Legate managed to entertain me, some of the Genin in these Chunin Exams has managed to entertain me, and I even believe that your reaction to what I have spoken of without speaking of is the highlight of my day. At least for now." His fangs flashed. Kakashi wanted to shove his teeth down his throat with his fists. "I know what comes. I have a plan in place if you worry for the safety of the village Kakashi Hatake."

"You have a plan?" Kakashi controlled himself. He pressed for answers.

"Of course. I discovered the events that will soon come to pass quite some time ago and have spent my spare time planning for the triumph they shall bring to my Legion." Naruto's smile fell away, he tilted his head to the side in a way that would have been harmless if he was a fool. It was somehow more intimidating than his smile. "I'm hurt Kakashi Hatake." Naruto' smile returned. "I thought you would believe in your student to do the right thing, to refuse to allow his home to be laid to ruin, yet I clearly see the lack of trust, the lack of faith, you have in me." Naruto's eyes shined. "I believe I will be too hurt by such a betrayal to command my forces as my sorrow will be too great. My own sensei does not believe in me it seems. Truly I have never felt such heartache."

'No.' He couldn't let it show. He couldn't let the panic he knew was there show.

Shinobi, civilian, it didn't matter who in that moment as bloody corpses took hold in his mind before he could stop it. More victims, mountains of corpses, rivers of blood, so much blood stained his hands now. He was drowning in it. He tried to pull himself free, tried to break the surface, but cold hands took hold of him.

Down.

Down.

Down.

They dragged him to where he belonged. Among his victims. Among the corpses he could have saved. Among the dead he should join but could not.

" _You failed again."_

" _Damn you Kakashi."_

" _You killed us…"_

" _Death follows you."_

" _Death."_

" _DEATH!"_

" _Kakashi-sensei…why?"_

 **DEATH**

"I thought you had thicker skin than that Naruto." Kakashi's eye crinkled as he smiled beneath his mask. "If I thought you needed 24/7 positive reinforcement, I would have hired some girls to be your cheerleaders."

"I have no use of the leaders of cheer you speak of." Naruto looked to Kakashi and all acting was gone. Kakashi could see why he would call himself Caesar in that moment as his stance shifted. Calculation. Intelligence. Malice. Retribution. Vengeance. So much took hold of his eyes in that moment Kakashi almost had trouble cataloging it all. Almost being the key word. He didn't like the picture the pieces created. He wanted to say he knew Naruto's game, knew his plan, but also prayed that he did not know it. He wanted to pray and hope he wasn't right. "I have use of only one thing." Naruto held up a single finger to further clarify his point. Kakashi knew he would dread whatever his one thing was. He waited for Naruto to continue.

He continued to wait. Naruto was not speaking. He was smiling once more.

"What is this one thing?" Kakashi at last asked. He didn't know how much time had passed.

"I will not allow you a time like this to hear it." Naruto turned abruptly. "We shall have to wait for after my match Kakashi Hatake. I shall tell you the one thing then."

His rage broke.

He blitzed forward. The Sharingan was revealed. He had an idea.

"Stop." The voice came from behind him. Kakashi froze.

He turned.

A trio of Praetorians took hold of Yugao, an entire ANBU team were restrained by a trio of Praetorians each. Naruto chuckled as he saw his shock.

"The seal you questioned my Legate about is quite powerful, is it not Silver Fang?" Naruto lifted the opposite hand that had been raised. It burned with Chakra.

'Clever.' Kakashi had to admit it. 'Your entire speech, the gesture with your hand, it was all to get the focus of everyone in this hall on the wrong hand.'

"I do not like being attacked." Naruto turned his head to look back at the hall and his eyes narrowed, darkness took hold of them and refused to let go. A smile crossed his face at the same time. "But I am a loyal Shinobi of Konoha. I shall depart and soon my Praetorians shall release the ANBU Black Ops agents that attempted to assault me. If you attempt to attack me as I leave, they will die."

Kakashi was still as Naruto turned his head down the opposite end of the hall. He continued back the way he came without issue. The Praetorians vanished as one. Kakashi covered his eye.

'I hate that brat.'

"So, what's your plan Sasuke-kun?" Ino was no longer allowed in the participants box, none of those that had failed to pass to the second round were allowed inside anymore, so she met Sasuke in the stands. The dark haired Uchiha was leaning on the railing to the arena waiting for his match to begin.

"Against my opponent?" Sasuke snorted. "I have no reason to delay my victory. I highly doubt she is as capable as you regardless." Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest and turned red and black eyes to Ino. She didn't look impressed with his response and he let out a huff of air. "She is proficient in Wind Release. Anything she does will feed into any fires I use. If I plan for the right strike, I'll incinerate her or burn her to a crisp and the proctor will stop the fight. If she thinks the same, I'll simply hack her to bits. Her fan is a defensive weapon when folded but it's not durable enough to stop my blade if I run Chakra through it. If she somehow manages to match me, perhaps she knows enough of Chakra Flow to use her Wind element to her advantage, I'll rely on either Genjutsu or sheer brute force."

"That's actually a rather decent plan to go into this with." Ino's mind flashed back to the battle Temari had with Choji. She focused on the end of the fight. "What about her summon?"

"If she summons-" Sasuke moved his arm slightly for emphasis. "I will answer in kind."

"OH, you have a summoning contract?" Anko Mitarashi was suddenly on the other side of the railing and his arm was in her grip. She examined it closely before frowning. "No, you just have some weird mark on your arm it looks like."

Neither Ino nor Sasuke reacted thanks to the shock currently freezing them in place. They had been, relatively, alone and isolated where they had been talking. Anko was supposed to be on the other side of the arena. Ino had caught sight of her location before Sasuke had even finished describing his plan of attack to her. The Tokubetsu Jonin had then simply appeared where she was standing now.

"You can just summon those clones I guess." Anko shrugged as she released Sasuke's arm. It dropped limply to his side and the head of a snake suddenly settled on his shoulder, slithered over to the other. Anko wrapped her arms around his armored chest and pulled him back against the railing. "I can teach you to summon snakes if you really want Sasuke."

The Uchiha turned near panic eyes to Ino as Anko gave the snake across his shoulders a smile of pure affection, spoke nonsense to it, but received no help. Ino shook her head as she moved back from the Genin and Tokubetsu Jonin. His red and black eyes shot to the snake just as Anko allowed it to slide back into her sleeve.

"That little guy is so adorable." Anko accomplished her mission as she withdrew from the Uchiha. "Your match is going to start in about a minute Uchiha. I hope you're ready for it."

Anko vanished from where she stood and Sasuke resisted the desire to leave the arena after what happened. He was just glad she hadn't licked him like he heard she had a habit of doing. After she threw a kunai to cut open your cheek at least.

'She fits in perfectly in the Torture and Interrogation Force it seems.' Sasuke turned and leaned forward on the railing, mindful of the girl that now moved up to stand next to him. He didn't spare her a glance but didn't have to.

"She must have just come over here because she wanted to creep you out before the match." Ino, despite any prior thoughts he may have had of her, was competent when it came to such things. She was a Yamanaka, they had an uncanny ability to read people, tell their intentions almost naturally when others could train for years to achieve the same results.

"I won't bother trying to discover any deeper reason for her particular brand of strangeness." Sasuke agreed with her as he spotted Temari's blonde hair nearby, the dark form of one of her brothers with her despite the injuries Rock Lee's rather low number of blows had given him during their first round match. He looked far from perfectly healed but he could at least walk without help. "Any other comments on my strategy?"

"If she summons whatever that thing she used against Choji again, you're going to have trouble." Ino said her piece. Sasuke nodded. "Beyond that? I guess you actually have a rather good chance of winning this thing. If my plan couldn't take you down, I don't think she can think up one."

"That almost warms this armored heart of mine Ino-chan." Sasuke spoke but something changed. The way he spoke 'Ino-chan' was different for whatever reason. Ino narrowed her eyes at the sudden change, trying to discover the reason, but didn't get the chance.

"The second round is about to begin! Temari of the Sand and Sasuke Uchiha get down here!" Anko's voice came from below them both in the arena and Sasuke pushed himself off of the railing and to his full height. He turned to Ino before he left.

"You should join your sensei and friends in the seats Ino. Stay close to them and don't wander." Sasuke looked at her with something approaching worry before it was gone. Something masked it, arrogance. "If you leave, you may miss my match."

"Don't get overconfident Sasuke-kun." Ino smirked at him. "If you're not careful, I'm sure she'll beat you and embarrass you in front of so many people."

"That's hardly likely Ino-chan." There was something in her name again. Worry really did take hold of his eyes as he looked to her. "Remember what I said."

He spoke no more and leaped into the arena, landing perfectly in front of Anko with the grace befitting an Uchiha. Temari walked across the arena and she looked surprise for a moment before it was gone. A scowl crossed her face instead as her steps took on a hint of anger.

"What's the big idea Uchiha?" Temari crossed her arms in front of her chest. Sasuke cocked an eyebrow at the angered tone. To his knowledge, he had done nothing to draw the wrath of the Sunagakure native in his small handful of interactions with her. "Are you not taking me seriously like that other bastard?"

He shook his head before his hand struck nothing but air. He closed his eyes for a moment before he looked down. His sword was gone from his side.

He glanced to Anko and saw it already on her waist. She cocked her hips to the side. She smiled and winked at him before it was gone.

"Seal of Confrontation kiddos." Anko clapped her hands in front of her. "The sooner you get that over with, the sooner the fun stuff can start." She looked to the two and her smile promised pain. "Do it." Neither wasted much more time. Both formed the necessary hand seal without complaint. "Alright, remember some of the most important people in the world are watching you now." She smiled at Sasuke, patted the sword that once rested at his side and now at hers. "If you do good Sasuke-kun, I'll let you have your sword back."

She vanished before he could threaten her.

"I'm beginning to hate men from Konoha." Temari drew her fan off her back and snapped it open, displaying two purple dots. "I'm going to take my anger out on you Uchiha."

Sasuke decided to taunt her.

He offered her a smirk as he gave a deep bow.

"If you can even hit me Temari of the Sand."

He vanished with a rather well executed Shunsin when she swung her fan at him. Only a finely honed danger sense allowed her to snap her fan close and use it to block his blow to the back of her neck, stopping his armored forearm from knocking her out. She moved away and turned to face the Uchiha as he spun a kunai into each hand and the blue glow of Chakra took hold of them.

"These aren't my preferred arms but they'll have to do." Sasuke charged forward. The kunai turned into barely recognizable black and blue blurs in his hands. Temari somehow weathered the storm of his slashes and Sasuke seemed genuinely surprised as he moved back and lowered the two kunai to his side.

"This is a pretty nice sword, don't you think so Ibiki?" Anko was modeling the sword she had taken to the head of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force and he didn't bother with sighing. He didn't want to know why Anko had taken the Uchiha's sword from him but he also was head of intelligence. He needed to ask a lot of questions that he didn't want to sometimes.

"Why did you disarm one of the participants Anko?" Ibiki honestly wished the answer made sense.

"Don't you see the issue with having a bunch of people who like Kenjutsu more than anything in the village, Ibiki-kun?" Anko looked down to the Uchiha as he avoided the blades of air a swing of Temari's fan produced with two of the purple dots exposed. "Didn't you see what happened to Hayate?"

"He'll make a full recovery." Ibiki spoke a fact. He refused to think it could be false.

"I'm just watching out for the kid." Anko focused on the Uchiha as he threw a number of shuriken forward, a swing of Temari's fan sending them off course and into the walls behind him. He looked to where they had embedded and dashed forward a moment later. "He'll get himself killed trying to win a fight with any older Kenjutsu master. The more he learns to fight without his sword, the better it is for the chance of him surviving and giving Konoha some kids with the Sharingan."

"Anko…" Ibiki wanted to reprimand her but decided not to. "Just return it when the match is over with."

"If he wins I'll give it back to him along with a little something extra." Anko was not budging on that point. "Besides, the kid's probably going to win anyway."

Sasuke closed the distance with Temari as Anko spoke and his fists lashed out. Temari smirked as she moved out of the way and her closed fan was swung at his side, aiming to break one of his arms with the heft of the fan. It failed to do as intended as Sasuke jumped and landed on top of the weapon with a smirk.

"Katon: Gokakyu!" He wasn't wasting anytime. He had full intentions of roasting Temari from his perch on top of her weapon.

She was lucky she had thought to prepare herself. Sasuke felt himself falling just as his fireball was thrown back in his face.

'Why does the signature technique, the technique that roasted entire armies when used by my clan, fail to defeat anyone I use it on? Is it really that much to ask for? For it to work just one time.' Sasuke avoided the fireball of course. He had seen the beginnings of Temari's counterattack and pushed off of the falling fan before he was turned into a charred Uchiha. He landed on his feet and merely observed Temari through the flames with his Sharingan.

'What is she planning?' Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for the inferno to die down.

'Got him.' Temari appeared behind him silently and swung her two small handheld fans at him. Two blades of wind ripped forward towards his back.

Sasuke heard them at the last moment over the crackling fire and made to dodge.

'Useless.' Temari continued swinging her fans, unleashed more blades of wind on the Uchiha at a range he simply couldn't dodge them from. 'This I-'

The Uchiha was suddenly gone from in front of her. A kick to her side sent her hurtling through the air and the Uchiha dropped his foot back on the ground. He rolled his shoulders before he drew a trio of kunai to each hand and threw them forward.

"Enough games." He let each impact the ground where Temari struck and pulled the wire strings tied to each taut as he brought his hands up to his lips. "Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu!" The same technique he had made use of in the preliminaries and the same technique he had tried to use against Ino roared down the wire strings. The dragon of flames was far larger than it usually was and Sasuke drew back as the wire strings burned to ash in his grip. "Katon: Hosenka!" He knew, from the cage he had created around her with the six kunai, where Temari was going to leap into the air to dodge the dragon of flames so he fired off a barrage of small fireballs to intercept her.

She swung with her twin fans, unleashing a gale that formed a vortex that powered her into the air away from his flames. Sasuke threw a number of shuriken up at her only for her to snap her fans close and use the iron cases to repel his barrage. The Uchiha was far from discouraged as he held his hand out and a pilum appeared. Temari's eyes didn't widen at the sight of the projectile. She could deflect shuriken with ease, deflecting a projectile as large as it would prove no problem for her.

The Uchiha threw it forward. She used the gales produced by a swing from one fan to knock it aside. It landed tip first in the ground. The Uchiha summoned another to his hand and threw it forward next. Temari deflected it with the same ease she had deflected the first with a swing of one of her hands. Sasuke summoned a third to his hand and Temari's eyes narrowed as she batted it to the side with another gale. The Uchiha summoned a fourth and Temari was glad her feet touched the ground as he threw it.

She snatched it out of the air and returned it with a shout.

The Uchiha moved his head to the side to avoid it and it embedded in the wall behind him.

Temari attacked him, swinging her fans once more, and Sasuke avoided the slicing gusts of wind she sent towards him with the expected ease. His Sharingan allowed him to dodge them all because he could see where the Chakra that gave shape to the air was at. Temari noticed and swung at the ground.

The loose soil was blown up as an improvised sandstorm.

Sasuke still avoided her Chakra based attacks.

'Shuriken.' He threw his own to intercept them, managing to do so before they could cause any serious harm to him. 'Kunai.' He heard a single kunai shoot through the air and used his armored forearm to knock it aside before it reached him. 'Shuriken again.' He made use of both armored forearms to knock aside the few amount of shuriken sent towards him in addition to his own when they aimed elsewhere. 'She's not very good at th-She's not aiming for me.'

Sasuke bolted. He had matched where the weapons were coming from to the likely path Temari was taking. She was trying to get to her main weapon, the giant iron fan that he couldn't handle without his absent sword in hand. A sword that Anko Mitarashi was most likely fine holding on to if he lost the match.

He did not plan on losing in the second round, the same way he had refused to lose in the first.

Shuriken intercepted Temari's path as Sasuke used his superior speed to reach the weapon first. He had seconds and knew it before Temari reached him. He threw a volley of shuriken summoned to his hand forward before he picked up the weapon and threw it away. Temari reached its previous location and he moved to end the fight by kicking her in the face. It wasn't stylish but it was practical at least. She dodged it, snapped open one of the smaller fans in her hands, and swung it at Sasuke. He vanished in a burst of smoke and appeared nearby at her side before he stepped back further.

He drew a pilum embedded into the ground free and spun it in his hand.

Temari's eyes glanced to where he had tossed her weapon before she snapped the second fan open. Sasuke ran Chakra down the length of the pilum, lacking the same intensity Naruto had made use of but the same results were achieved.

"You should give up." Sasuke angled the weapon down, the shaft pressed against the side of his arm as the end pointed towards the sky. "You don't stand a chance without your fan."

"We'll see about that." Temari swung one of her smaller fans and Sasuke swung the pilum upward. A blade of Chakra bisected her blade of wind and he dashed forward without another moment wasted. He swung again, this time to the side, and Temari was forced into the air to avoid the horizontal blade of Chakra. Sasuke followed after her with a leap and avoided her closed fans as she made use of them as clubs. The space was limited. He didn't get a chance to bring the pilum up once more but it didn't matter. The two Genin clashed in the air for a moment, Temari's two fans pressed against the durable wooden shaft of the pilum, reinforced with Chakra.

Temari pushed off of him, planting her sandal clad feet into his armored chest to do so, and Sasuke immediately understood what she was doing. He swung one arm out, unleashed a rain of shuriken from the seal hidden on his armor to stop her. The Suna Kunoichi snapped both fans open and a wall of air deflected the shuriken sent towards her. The Uchiha struck the ground and didn't hesitate to channel more Chakra to the polearm in his hands before throwing it forward. It was dodged but the Uchiha detonated it.

Temari was able to throw up another wall of wind, not anywhere near as strong as the first as she could only move one fan in time, but she was only thrown from the dust cloud created by the detonated explosive. The Uchiha sighed before he threw himself forward, ripping another of the pilum out of the ground as he did so. Temari recovered while she was airborne, swung her fans at him and released a pair of wind blades at him once more. Chakra ignited across the pilum, focused at the blade, and he swung it twice in front of him.

He bisected both blade of air as he thrust the pilum forward, sending something comparable to a bullet of Chakra towards Temari.

It punched through her fan when she tried to block it. She narrowly avoided it punching through her chest. It struck the wall behind her and left a fist sized hole in it.

"You should know that was me going easy on you." Sasuke did not move from his stance, the Chakra laden blade of the pilum still stretched out in front of him. "Don't make me have to kill you to win this."

Temari threw aside her ruined fan and swung the other back and forth in front of her. Sasuke shook his head as he retracted the pilum before his arm was a blur. He used the same technique to send a number of bullets of Chakra punching through the blades of wind sent towards him before they could reach him. He had aimed them around Temari, striking the ground in front of her or striking the wall behind her. She moved back and Sasuke threw his pilum forward once more.

A bullet of Chakra ripped the fan in her hand out of her grip before she could react. Temari stopped.

"Surrender." Sasuke moved to rest the pilum on his shoulder. "This was a poor match up for you." He used his free hand to gesture to his eyes. "My Sharingan made this hopeless for you."

"Really?" Temari smirked at him. He noticed the strands of Chakra connecting her fingers to her fan. She pulled and Sasuke swung down.

He missed.

Temari had expected him to server the Chakra Threads so had disconnected them. She caught her fan in one hand, snapped it open to display all three purple dots as she spun, and swung it at the Uchiha. The vortex unleashed by the action wasn't something he could avoid. He was swept up into it as Temari swung again, pushing the vortex into the center of the arena. He was thrown around in it like a ragdoll, the Uchiha finding his weapon ripped from his grip as he neared the top. His Sharingan allowed him to see the blades of wind, formed by Chakra, that aimed to slice him to pieces and he barely managed to dodge them. His helmet was ripped off in the end. It was sent hurtling into the air and landed at Temari's feet.

"You shouldn't have been so arrogant Uchiha." Temari drew her fan back, prepared to finish the fight. "Y-"

Sasuke Substituted with her fan before she could finish. The shock of seeing her fan in his place in the vortex let him grab her by the shoulders and force her to look into his red and black eyes. She swiftly tumbled to the ground as Sasuke released her. The Uchiha looked up to where Anko observed.

She was gone.

"You did pretty good Sasuke-kun." Anko patted his tousled hair from behind. He refused to react to her. Anko moved over to Temari and pulled open her eyelids, saw she was completely unconscious, and she let her head drop back to the ground and turned to Sasuke. She took hold of his wrist and lifted it into the air. "Sasuke Uchiha wins his second round match against Temari of the Sand. He advances to the third round."

She dropped his hand and winked at him as she vanished.

He still didn't have his sword and he noticed she took his helmet now as well.

"I'll get them both back later." He didn't waste any more time in the arena. He vanished and appeared next to Naruto thanks to the seal. He bowed his head and brought his fist over his armored heart. "Caesar. I apologize for the lack of entertainment in my match."

"Your sword and helmet have been taken by Anko Mitarashi." Naruto's eyes did not leave the arena as repairs were underway but they would last only a few short minutes. The seal hidden by his armor grew warm as Naruto's eyes shifted from blue to red. "Retrieve the sword before my match concludes. Your helmet will be replaced."

"I do as you command Caesar." Sasuke did not lift his head.

"Of course you do." Naruto dismissed him with those words. He did not need to speak any command or make a gesture, Sasuke knew when he was dismissed and did not hesitate to leave Naruto's side.

Rock Lee's eyes took in the entire exchange from where he leaned against the wall. He did not comment. Gaara of the Sand had vanished the moment the match concluded and was most likely on his way to the arena. Naruto continued his silent observation, blue overcoming red once more.

"It's almost good to see you Sasuke." Outside the participant's box, Kakashi laid a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, stopping him instantly. The Uchiha did not flinch. His eyes didn't leave Kakashi's mostly masked face. Anko leaned against the wall immediately to his right, his helmet tossed up and down in one of her hands. His sword remained at her side. "I want to talk with you."

"Have her give me my blade first." Sasuke didn't bother with looking at Kakashi with his Sharingan. An attempt at Genjutsu would fail against the Jonin and he was too fast for him to react to whatever the Sharingan told him when it came to the masked Shinobi's movements.

"You don't give up leverage Sasuke." Kakashi patted him on the shoulder before he withdrew his hand. "On to my question, what does Naruto have planned?"

"You think I know?" Sasuke stepped back. He nearly ran into the head of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force. He stopped midstep and did not turn his head to see the proctor of the First Stage in full. He would have returned to his prior spot if Kakashi didn't close the distance between the two. "As I told you before, Caesar does not tell me all things."

"He tells you enough." Kakashi looked down at the armored Genin that nearly blindly followed the Uzumaki that had been the source of no shortage of problems. "You know what he has planned for what's going to happen at least." Kakashi pointed to Anko who smiled. It was not comforting. "Anko overheard your little warning to Ino. You know enough to give her some advice on how to get out of what's going to be ground zero when that fight starts."

"So you believe I'll reveal Caesar's plans?" Sasuke almost laughed. Kakashi wanted to use ineffective methods to get the answers he needed, the ones that consumed hours and produced nothing of importance beyond learning how many ways someone can beg, but he lacked the time. The Uchiha stepped forward, he smirked at the Jonin. "You will learn of what Caesar has planned when he wishes to reveal it. All of Konoha will know of his glory and there is nothing you can do to stop it."

"I could seal your Chakra right now." Kakashi looked for a flash of fear at the threat but found nothing. His single visible eye narrowed. He looked to Sasuke's arm. "I see, that seal would make that worthless I guess. If anyone else had made it I wouldn't believe you, think you just had a good poker face, but an Uzumaki created it. It probably has too many moving parts for me to even begin to decipher it no matter how much time I have with your arm."

"Give me my blade." Sasuke looked to Anko. Anko looked to Kakashi for the briefest of moments. "You know how this will end Kakashi Hatake." Kakashi's sole eye was focused on Sasuke at the use of his name, the same way Naruto had done earlier. "You have perhaps minutes before Caesar begins his battle. If you are lucky, Caesar will decide to act in advance and all will be spared. If you are unlucky, Caesar will watch the village burn." He shook his head. "You have no power over Caesar. You have no power over his glorious Orange Legion. You can do nothing to force his decision, force his hand. You have nothing he desires beyond the fate he wishes to deliver upon you."

"You're quite a bit more chattier than usual Sasuke." Kakashi looked to Anko. "What do you think Anko?"

"He's stalling us." Anko continued to toss his helmet up and down in the air. "He's making us waste our time with him." She caught his helmet in her hand. Her eyes narrowed. "He knows a lot more than he's ever going to tell us."

"Agreed." Ibiki looked to Kakashi from behind the Uchiha. "What do you think we should do with him?"

"He'll be in charge of Naruto's forces most likely." Kakashi stopped Sasuke from leaving with a Shunsin with a simple tap to his forehead. His body locked up against his will, left him paralyzed where he stood. "We can't get rid of him even if he's being annoying."

"We could cut off his arm and examine the seal." Anko stepped forward, drew the blade she had taken from the Uchiha and pressed the sharp edge to his armpit. "This thing can probably take it off with one good swing and one or two more if it can't do it the first time." She rested his helmet on his frozen head. "Besides, he's been wanting this sword of his back for a while now."

"How much longer do you have Anko?" Anko glanced at her wrist, looked at an imaginary watch, and shrugged.

"At least another minute. The old man is probably going to make Aoba or Raido act as an impromptu proctor if I don't show up in five." Anko drew the blade back. She rested the flat face on Sasuke's shoulder instead. He remained frozen in place but his eyes were still under his control. "That's about all the time I'll need to cut off his arm and hand it off to one of you."

"It may be our only choice." Kakashi looked to Sasuke's frozen face and saw something that surprised him.

The Genin's eyes held actual betrayal in them. Panic was there of course. Fear, hate, and anger were also there but betrayal was there above them all. He couldn't hide it, couldn't try to mask it. It burned like the fire he had made use of today time and time again. Kakashi didn't expect to see such a thing and it actually made him pause. He looked to the Uchiha, looked back on the two encounters he'd had with him today, and suddenly found himself ill.

'What am I doing?' Time seemed to pause for him. 'Am I that paranoid about Naruto that I'll torture the kid twice in one day? He didn't talk last time, he hasn't talked this time, and now I'm honestly thinking about maiming him? For what? To study a seal I still wouldn't understand, to deprive Naruto of someone he thinks is replaceable, to just kill the last Uchiha loyal to the village?'

"What are you waiting for Silver Fang?" Kakashi turned to see the blonde Uzumaki behind him. "Kill him. Maim him. Discover my secrets at last."

"Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing?" Sakura was in front of him. A void consumed him. Only she was there. "Why are you doing this?"

"Don't be a coward, show me the lengths you are willing to go to protect this pitiful village." Naruto returned. He smirked at him, sneered at his weakness.

"What are you doing to him? He's not like Naruto." Sakura's eyes were wide with horror. She looked almost disgusted with him.

"Kill him. I expected better from my Legate but this day has been eye opening." Naruto's eyes bled to red, his fangs grew, and a creature replaced the boy.

"He doesn't deserve this Kakashi-sensei. Please, let him go." Sakura was back. She was pleading with him. "Don't do this."

"Are you weak as well Silver Fang?" The creature was back, urged him to act. "Do what needs to be done."

"Let him go." She returned. She was replaced with a girl he had already failed. "Kakashi, don't make the same mistake."

"Kill him." Naruto returned, drew his blade. "Are you loyal are not? He is an enemy. Enemies must die."

"Kakashi!" Two voices called out his name.

"Kill him!" The man who took his eye screamed at him.

"Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash." The teammate he had failed looked up at him.

'This has gone on too far.' Only the void was left. He was alone. Alone like he should be. 'I need to stop this.'

"Don't bother with it Anko." Kakashi tapped Sasuke on the opposite shoulder Anko laid the blade on and he crumpled to the ground. He didn't bother pretending like he wasn't in pain, as if he hadn't gone through prolonged agony. He couldn't even muster the strength to glare at the Jonin. He could hardly glare at his feet. "Head back and go proctor the next match."

"Aw, are you sure?" Anko returned the sword to her side, bent down to pick up the Uchiha but a steel grip on her shoulder stopped her. Her eyes, Ibiki's as well, shot to Kakashi. His face was blank.

"I'll handle Sasuke. Both of you can get back to where you need to be." It was an order. Neither spent any more time in the hall.

The Genin remained collapsed on the floor, his body still wracked by the aftershocks of prolonged use of the technique.

'Six times.' Kakashi knew the exact number. 'I've used it on him six times and it's not even noon.' He looked at the shaking form of the Uchiha and didn't know what to feel. 'When did I decide he was a lost cause? What made torturing a kid like this alright to me? When did I abandon a comrade like this?' His eyes refused to leave the shaking form of the Uchiha.

It was pointless to help him up. The boy would fight him. Had good reason to try and kill him after what he had done.

He could only look on.

'When did I become trash?'

A near silent sob passed the Uchiha's lips. Kakashi knew why. Repeated use, repeated torture, made the aftereffects of prolonged uses stronger. He had used it six times. Why? The answer was simple in the end: It was yet another failure in the life of Kakashi Hatake.

'At last.' Rasa looked on as the two Genin, the two weapons, stared each other down. 'Konoha's Jinchuriki is up against the weapon. There's no more reason to delay.' His eyes did not look to the Hokage. He kept a careful hold on his bloodlust, did not look to the aged Shinobi and show his hand in advance. 'Soon this idiotic charade will be over with and this village will burn.'

"You truly are a wild beast." Naruto's grin was wide as he stood before Gaara of the Sand with his arms crossed at his chest. He looked over his opponent and his smile widened. "You are little better than a wild dog on the street, driven mad by hunger and brought to heel with your baser instincts. Tell me, if I were to throw a slab of meat at your feet now, would you tear at it with your teeth or drag it away to whatever hobble you call home?"

"I'm going to enjoy killing you." For the first time today, for the first time in his life, excitement entered Gaara's eyes. His sand shifted in the air, took aimless shape around him. "Mother wants your blood Naruto Uzumaki and I will give it to her."

"You are foolish." Naruto removed his helmet, tossed it off to the side without a moment wasted. "I will spill your blood today Gaara of the Sand." His hair remained as he liked it, the former spikes removed with an earlier sweep of his hand through it. "You will know the bite of steel, the sting of pain, and you will learn how much mercy I truly do possess when you lay defeated at my feet."

Sand shot towards Naruto. He dodged the clawed hand as Gaara was consumed in a sphere of sand. Naruto leaped away from it and drew his sword in one motion. Blue eyes searched the air for another attack but none came as markings crossed over the sand covering his opponent. An azure inferno took hold of Naruto Uzumaki then, cast shadow and light across his face.

"It is time to bring you to heel dog." Naruto swung.

A blue inferno seemed to sweep across the ground, crash into the marked sand, and rip through it before sand poured from the ground around Gaara, consumed him in a sphere of greater defense. Naruto laughed at such a sight before he swung his blazing sword once more. A new inferno crashed against the sand, ripped it asunder, but did not reach the core as Naruto would have liked. More sand emerged, consumed and repaired the sphere around the red haired Genin.

"This is your ultimate defense I take it?" Naruto laughed at the sight as he swung his blazing blade once more, unleashed a new azure inferno across the ground to strike against the barrier created. "It will defend you as well from my attack as the wind may knock down a mountain! It will do nothing to protect you from my power Gaara of the Sand!" He swung again, unleashed another azure blaze that swept across the ground and ripped into the sand with explosive force this time. "I will bring you to hell like I said! You will not survive this battle!"

'This isn't going according to plan.' In the stadium, Kabuto Yakushi looked on as the Ichibi's markings, the signs of its release, wavered. His eyes drifted to the Uzumaki and he couldn't repress his shiver. 'The invasion is going to fail if he isn't stopped.' His eyes looked to where the Kage watched, where Rasa's eyes looked at the scene in front of him with something approaching shock. 'This wasn't planned for, It should have unleashed the Ichibi in the first round but failed.' Beneath the mask, his eyes drifted to the seats. His eyes found pink hair. 'Maybe I can fix this.'

The Uzumaki's obsession with the pink haired girl was well known. This could work. This would work actually.

'It needs only a few seconds to unleash the Ichibi.' Kabuto moved. 'This will do.'

"Come out and fight me you beast!" Naruto swung his sword, unleashed another inferno that ripped away at the sand with its explosive impact. He caught sight of his target within the sphere of sand, his eyes wide as they were revealed to the world. "You have hid from your master in your hole enough!" He brought the blade above his head, a beacon of azure light fired into the sky as Chakra took hold of the blade. It didn't blaze, it sheathed the blade with an azure light. The power held there was like nothing felt before. The sand was closing the hole. It would be too slow. "Feel the sting of my blade at last!"

He didn't swing down.

"That's enough Naruto Uzumaki." An ANBU Black Ops dropped down to the arena with Sakura held against him, a kunai held to her throat. "Stop t-"

"Do you think I won't cut through you?" Naruto smiled at the ANBU. The shadows cast across his face by the light of the Chakra across his blade made it appear demonic. "I have no problem with such a thing!"

Beneath his mask, Kabuto's eyes widened as Naruto swung down. He narrowly avoided the attack as he threw the pink haired girl away. It ripped into the sand and detonated, tore away Gaara's defense as Naruto threw himself forward after it.

'What the hell?' Kabuto scrambled to rise just as more ANBU Black Ops joined him in the arena. They took up positions around him as each fell to a knee, brought their hands together as they fed the Chakra stored within them to him. 'There's no point to it anymore.' The corpses performed their programmed function. He couldn't waste this chance.

"Temple of Nirvana." He formed the hand sign and the Genjutsu took hold.

'The storm begins.' Naruto dispelled the illusion with ease as he sheathed his sword at his side and vanished from sight.

* * *

AN: The note looms.


	42. The Storm

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter Title: The Storm

* * *

"An attack?" Asuma questioned such even as he moved to his feet, his Chakra blades drawn and delivering punishing Wind Chakra enhanced blows to the two Sunagakure Shinobi that tried to attack him. He saw ANBU begin to move from where they had hidden themselves amongst the crowd, clash with the attackers that had done the same. "What the hell's going on?"

He looked to Kurenai for answer, the Genjutsu expert already finding a target and trapping them in an illusion. By the screams that tore from their throat, it wasn't a very pleasant one. He ripped into the chest of one of the Sunagakure Shinobi that tried to attack her. A kunai she threw at blinding speed took out the second coming from her other side. Asuma flipped the trench knives in his hands, held them down at his side as the Chakra he ran down to them took shape.

"What did you find out?" Kunai were useless now. The first to try and clash with him learned such a lesson when he removed her head from her shoulders without being stopped. The second learned his Wind Nature wasn't strong enough to beat Asuma's own. Both were too young to understand how to come at a Jonin to kill. Asuma's mind did not dwell on them.

"Oto and Suna are behind this." Kurenai moved back, drew a pair of kunai to her hands. "Attack on the walls and that boy down there is the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi."

"You picked a good target." Kurenai smiled at him before the two Jonin threw themselves into action.

"Sakura!" Ino moved as fast as she could to the railing. She saw it covered with sand, a shape taking form and Naruto nowhere in sight. She saw the pink haired Genin trapped, sand crawling up her legs and trying to pull her under. "Sakura!"

"Ino?" Sakura's emerald eyes turned to the source of the shout. Panic crossed her face. "Stay back Ino! Don't come down here!"

"I know that idiot!" Shikamaru and Choji finally caught up with her. "We're going to get you out of there!" She turned to her two teammates and best friends. "What do you've got Shikamaru?"

"I'm on perimeter, Choji will grab her, and you make sure that thing doesn't get any ideas." Shikamaru fell into a crouch as his shadow encircled them. Choji moved to the railing and his fist grew to massive size before he threw it down. Shikamaru's shadow began to stretch out, connect to the countless shadows from the seats and the unconscious forms within them. Ino closed her eyes, put her sensory skills to use to search for any attacking Shinobi as she laid a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder.

Choji's hand reached Sakura and wrapped around the Genin. He pulled and she winced but the sand released her without much of a fight. It was withdrawing anyway, being drawn into the center where Gaara's form had disappeared beneath the sand. Her arm wrapped around the railing just as Shikamaru's shadow latched onto an attacking Sunagakure Shinobi. Choji released her and his massive fist sent the attacker into the air.

"All of you alright?" Asuma's voice came from above them as the bearded Jonin put his Taijutsu skills to brutal efficiency, his trench knives in their normal state with Chakra running across them.

"We're f-" A cutting gale of wind ripped towards them, launched by a trio of Sunagakure Shinobi who wielded massive metal fans like Temari had in the exams.

"Do not worry!" Lee kicked to counter the wind. The displaced air he sent forward tore apart the wind blades and cut in the attackers. He stood in front of them, dark eyes searching for another threat to find none. "I will protect my younger comrades."

"Should expect stuff like that from a kid like you." Asuma had enough time for a small grin to cross his face before he nodded. "Keep them all safe Lee."

"You have my word." Lee gave a resolute nod.

Asuma returned to the fight, a punch backed by his Chakra blade tearing through the Flak Jacket of another Sunagakure Shinobi trying to get the drop of him and put a hole in the stadium when the corpse hit the wall. He moved to it and observed the village from it.

'Damn.' Panic had taken hold of the streets. Suna and Konoha Shinobi were killing each other in the streets and civilians were fleeing in a panic to the shelter, protected by the Shinobi down there as best they could.

"The stadium isn't going to be safe for much longer." Kurenai joined him, her eyes looking to where the sand continued to form into a monster. "We need to get the people out of here."

"There's nothing we can do for this many people." Asuma rested his Chakra Blades at his side, his mind running a mile minute as he took in the scene below him. "Even if we could get them all up, we won't be able to get them far from the stadium in that anarchy."

"The ANBU are too busy keeping the attackers they can here." Kurenai looked around, spotted Anko as her snakes crushed the throats of a trio of Shinobi that tried to attack her from behind. She threw a kunai with accuracy befitting a Shinobi her rank and blood poured from the punctured neck of another attacker. Their comrade couldn't even scream at her in rage before Ibiki's dark form was there, snapping their neck with practiced ease before throwing the corpse away. "I would say let Anko take over here and the two of us take as many as we can in trips but…"

"We both know how that would end." Asuma desperately wished he could smoke but thought better of it. It would do no good to waste time with lighting a cigarette when he could be killing some of the attackers. "We need to think of something fast."

"I know." Kurenai looked around the two, Sunagakure Shinobi approaching the two Jonin in a pack.

"Let's deal with the brats first." Asuma rose his trench knives and darted forward. Kurenai had trapped several in a Genjutsu already and it showed when Asuma brought the blades across the necks of several without a reaction. They crumpled to the ground and he met their angered comrades with a number of ferocious blows.

One attempted to attack him with a Wind Jutsu only to find their hand severed before he put his bladed fist through their Flak Jacket and into their chest. Another attempted to attack him only to fall prey to another Genjutsu and Kurenai joined him with her kunai slitting their throat. Two more tried to attack her, hoping to avenge their comrade and use his death as a distraction, and she trapped one in a Genjutsu that made them pounce on their fellow Sungakure Shinobi. She let the maddened Shinobi confuse friend for foe twice more before killing her. By the time she killed her third Shinobi with her own hands, Asuma had finished off the last three.

"I wonder where Kakashi is." Asuma returned his focus to the battle not expecting an answer. There was a village to defend at the moment after all. He could find an answer to his question later once they all made it out of the attack alive.

"My Legate is at your feet Kakashi Hatake, why should I bother with aiding you or the village now?" Naruto crouched down next to the Legate of his Orange Legion, pressed a pair of fingers and felt a pulse. "What have you done to him?"

"I made a rash decision." Kakashi let his hand fall into his pockets. "He'll be fine soon."

"That is not the problem here and you know it." Naruto did not rise, his eyes remained focused on the form of his Legate. "I can forgive your actions against my Legate earlier, his conviction and loyalty to me was an admirable thing to be made aware of but I will not forgive this." He turned his Legate onto his back, black eyes couldn't focus on anything, they moved wildly in their sockets. "Your actions stirred something in him."

"What?" Kakashi crouched down across from him. "I released the Jutsu, I didn't do anything else to him."

"Your actions do not need explaining to me Hatake." Naruto looked down at his Legate, felt his pulse steadily increasing. His breathing was growing audible, growing in rate just like his heartbeat. "I came here to speak of what I promised I would before I fought the mad dog but I see how useless it was to make a man such as yourself wait for anything." He looked down to his Legate's waist and saw the absence of his blade. "I can hardly bother to be disappointed in his failure knowing he came against you. I'm beginning to think even that was part of whatever plan your mind conceived."

"This wasn't supposed to happen." Kakashi looked away from the Uchiha. He had already recognized the signs for what they were. He had done something, acted as a trigger to unlock trauma of some sort. He didn't want to look on and see the results.

"I do not care for what you wish for." Naruto looked up at Kakashi. "Leave my presence Kakashi Hatake."

"Naruto, I-"

"Leave before you lead others to ruin Hatake." Naruto wasn't looking at him with any humor, any taunts, there was nothing but rage in his eyes.

'I need to find Sakura.' He took off down the halls. He could save one of his students today if he moved fast enough.

He could hopefully stop more names being added to the Memorial Stone at the same time.

"I didn't expect something like this from you Rasa." Hiruzen was at ease despite the Gold Dust that encased him, the ANBU that had been restrained just as he was by the Kazekage's powerful ability. It consumed the box they had observed the Chunin Exams in and had burst through the walls to draw in the Daimyo, crushing their escort in the process. "I thought you knew better than to ally with Orochimaru."

"I plan to kill him after this is over with Sarutobi." The Kazekage looked to the barrier that had taken hold of the box, a cyclone made of razor sharp wind blades. "But before that, I intend for you to see the village you take so much pride in burn around you."

"This foolishness is fitting for a man much younger than you Rasa." Hiruzen looked at the Kazekage with almost pity. "Your son, the boy you turned into a weapon, will not destroy this village. The monsters Orochimaru unleashes will not destroy this village. Even if you burn every house to the ground, kill all you can find, you cannot destroy this village."

"You're speaking nonsense now old man." Rasa tightened the hold of his Gold Dust with a fist. "Maybe I should kill you now and save myself the trouble of listening to your mad ramblings."

"You simply prove my point Rasa." Hiruzen shook his head, the white cloth that draped from the rim of the Hokage hat moving with the movement. "You should never have committed yourself, your Shinobi, and the very future of your village with an attack on my home."

The hat fell onto the empty prison.

"What?" Rasa drew back, Gold Dust surrounded him, and his Shinobi began falling. He moved to attack, put a sphere of Gold Dust through the blur that moved through the room to no avail. He chose to kill the trapped ANBU instead, lifting a hand only to withdraw it just as quickly.

A kunai enshrouded with Chakra narrowly missed severing his outstretched hand. He received a light cut through his robes instead. Blood stained the white dark red around the frayed edges.

The ANBU escaped when his concentration lapsed, the dark rings around his eyes almost gone from view.

Gold Dust rose to his defense when a stream of fire shot towards him. It rose to his defense once more when a bullet of water exploded behind him, unleashing a wave of water forward. The ANBU began their attack, drawing their blades and lightning, fire, air, water, and earth began to fill the air and cover the ground as the Sunagakure Shinobi within the barrier were put on the defensive. Steel sang as the ANBU attacked, showed no mercy to the attackers.

None came close to him.

Gold Dust shot forward to spear through the head of one but a wall of stone erupted from the floor. Before Rasa could break through it, he was enshrouded in Gold Dust to prevent himself from being blown away by the sudden gale that was aimed solely at him. Deep gashes were carved into the sphere of Gold Dust, almost ripped through it if he didn't focus. Fires came from above, the heat great enough that he knew the Gold Dust was being fused above him.

Four jagged pillars of blue stone emerged around him then, lightning formed a fence between them and his Third Eye took shape near the barrier just as he was consumed in a structure not dissimilar to an oven. His Gold Dust, spread across the room, surged forward to break him free, but he felt more than saw the flames that ignited within.

'How is he doing all this?' His Gold Dust wrapped around the oven, crushed it and smothered the fires within. 'He's one old man but he's performing all th-'

"That was close." He narrowly dodged spears erupting from the earth, taking to the air on a platform of Gold Dust. He cast his one open dark ringed eye around the room but could not see his foe. "Where are you hiding Hiruzen?"

"I was underneath the platform." Hiruzen's sandal clad feet struck him in the stomach before the aged Hokage pushed himself off of him and flipped in the air, landing in a crouch on the ground. "You need to be more observant in battle Rasa."

The Kazekage couldn't answer as he was currently on the ground, rising up on his hands as he fought the urge to hold his stomach. His Gold Dust surged around him then, lifted him up on a pillar and a second Third Eye took shape behind Hiruzen as he was consumed in a sphere of Gold Dust.

'This isn't right. He wasn't supposed to get free from my trap but he did, how?' Rasa took in the entire battlefield with his two uses of the Third Eye technique. 'This is supposed to be Suna's day of triumph! The day I burn Konoha to the ground and show the entire world the power of Suna! This was supposed to be the day I show all those foolish Daimyo why my village is superior!'

Gold Dust took to the air, began to rain down on where Rasa could only guess the Hokage stood. He tore apart the ground below him, did his best to kill the old man who should be dead already.

'Why won't he die?'

"What are we supposed to do?" Sakura helped Ino with one of her arms over her shoulder move after her crutches had been lost and looking for them would be too risky. The five Genin had managed to reach the relative safety of the participant's box and took a moment to think inside.

"I will pursue Gaara when he awakens." Lee looked towards the sand that began to truly take shape, take a recognizable form, in the arena. "Our primary mission as Shinobi of Konoha before that is to escort all civilians from the battlefield and to shelters before staging our counterattack."

"Lee's right." Shikamaru's eyes traveled to the sleeping civilians outside. "We need to wake up as many as we can and move them out of harm's way. Once we do that, we can find one of our sensei and ask for any other orders."

"How are we going to move so many people?" Choji joined Shikamaru with looking out the window. "There's five of us and this place is packed."

"We will figure out a way." Lee refused to allow anything to stop him. "We are Shinobi of Konoha and it is our duty to overcome such obstacles."

" _You should join your sensei and friends in the seats Ino. Stay close to them and don't wander." Sasuke looked at her with something approaching worry before it was gone. Something masked it, arrogance. "If you leave, you may miss my match."_

" _Don't get overconfident Sasuke-kun." Ino smirked at him. "If you're not careful, I'm sure she'll beat you and embarrass you in front of so many people."_

" _That's hardly likely Ino-chan." There was something in her name again. Worry really did take hold of his eyes as he looked to her. "Remember what I said."_

"What if…what if we find Sasuke?" Ino focused on the floor as all eyes turned to her. "I know he's not the best but I've got a feeling he'll help us. He can summon Naruto's army to him at least and that deals with any number issues. If we can get him to summon them, we can get the people here to safety in the shelter."

"…That may work." Shikamaru looked to Sakura. "If we run into Naruto, can you get him to help us?"

"I-I'm not so sure he likes me much anymore." Sakura remembered the complete lack of hesitance that took hold of him when she had been dragged in front of him. He had only stopped his attack for as long as he did so that he could mock the traitorous ANBU that had been behind her. "He didn't try to talk to the ANBU that brought me down to him. He just attacked after laughing at him."

"Then Sasuke really is our best bet." Shikamaru brought his hand to his eyes. "This may be a problem." He turned to Ino. "Can you find him?"

"Give me a moment." Ino closed her eyes and Sakura took a lot more of her weight. Rock Lee took Ino's other shoulder and took some of the burden of Ino's weight off of her. The Yamanaka snapped her eyes open after a near minute had passed and didn't look happy. "I…I can't find him with all the different Chakra signatures around us. We need to get someplace else where I can pick it out."

"There's no place else to go with the village under attack." Shikamaru let out a sigh. "We need to come up with a new plan then."

"Plan? Children these days are always living in some fantasy world. You children aren't making it out of there alive." The participant's box was covered from all sides by a single figure. Chiyo the Elder. Ten of the most famous puppets in the world surrounded them and began their approach.

"Hold it granny!" Anko's voice was never so welcomed. A kunai was thrown with the normal deadly precision but was knocked out of the air before it could reach her. She didn't even bother to turn as a horned and lavender colored puppet charged Anko with large fists raised. The Tokubetsu Jonin didn't run, she threw an arm forward and snakes ripped through the air and filled it with hisses. They coiled around the puppet, wrapped around its limbs and their powerful bodies began to crack it.

"You kids get out of here." Anko didn't look to the Genin. "I'll keep this old lady busy until you're clear, got it?"

"But we can help." Shikamaru almost dropped into a crouch.

"I said leave!" Anko let her anger out, let her Killing Intent sweep across the area and actually stirred a few dozen civilians from their Genjutsu induced sleep. "Three of you are high priority targets for any invaders so get their hands on so get to safety now!" She urged her snake to tighten their grip, hear the cracks coming from the puppet. "I'll cover you."

A pink skinned puppet with red hair tied in a style like Tenten's cleaved them in half with one of two large broadswords it wielded. It charged Anko only for the proctor to draw the blade she had taken from Sasuke and counter one broadsword and used a kunai with Chakra running through it to stop the second. The large fist of the demon like puppet she had restrained briefly were sent towards her with terrifying speed. She ducked and slipped past the bun haired puppet's guard and ran Chakra through the blade.

A cable wrapped around her arm and she was pulled through the air, crashing into some of the unconscious civilians as she was thrown to the side. She recovered and jumped up to her feet in time to use the flat of the blade to stop the large fist sent to rip through her head of the demon like puppet.

"This sword's pretty durable." Anko strained to keep the puppet away from her with one hand, the other still wrapped in the cable. She tried to pull it free only to be pulled off balance and the fist passed her guard.

A hound of stone barreled into the puppet, threw it into the shifting sand of the arena. It growled, rocks leaping from its jaws as it barked, and remained in front of Anko. She looked relieved to see the stone dog and she grinned as she spun the sword in her hand and severed the cable wrapped around her arm.

"Let's see what you've got granny." Anko charged forward, the dog at her side.

"Kakashi-sensei created that dog." Sakura turned to the other side and found a dog of lightning fending off more Sunagakure Shinobi. "Kakashi-sensei is here!"

"Yo." Said Jonin appeared in front of the five Genin in a burst of smoke. "You five need to get out of here, I'll backup Anko."

"Ino, keep searching for Sasuke." Shikamaru looked to Lee but before he could speak, the green wearing Genin had placed Ino on his back. "Choji, cover the rear, I'll keep an eye on your flank with Sakura." The five Genin burst from the participant's box and the attempts of another puppet with large fists to stop them were met with a stream of fire from Kakashi. It was pulled out of the way with a twitch of Chiyo's fingers but Kakashi formed a cross shaped hand seal in front of his chest. A number of shadow clones appeared and began to attack the clones in addition to the real Kakashi of the Sharingan.

Suffice to say, Chiyo was too occupied to continue her attack.

"Find anything yet Ino?"

"She has discovered nothing." Shikamaru wasn't surprised when Lee answered for the Yamanaka. He had a feeling he would know of any development of their search long before Ino could come out of her trance and vocalize them to the rest.

"Alright, we'll move through the halls then." Shikamaru looked for a way to get there when he was forced to come to a stop, a number of Sunagakure Shinobi coming towards them. He fell into a crouch but didn't get a chance to use his Clan's infamous Jutsu.

A purple haired cat masked ANBU was suddenly in front of him, swinging with her sword and unleashing a blade of Chakra that made blade spill from one of the attacking woman's chest. The ANBU formed a shadow clone on either side of herself and all three attacked the six puppets sent at them by two users.

"Thanks for the save." Shikamaru leaped back to Lee's side as Sakura threw a number of shuriken and kunai forward, peppering the back of an unaware Suna Shinobi before he could react. He collapsed forward and she didn't flinch as she moved past.

'She must have taken her first life during the mission to Waves.' Shikamaru made a mental note of such a fact when she showed only steely resolve. 'This helps.'

"Choji, how you doing back there?" Shikamaru didn't turn to see his longtime friend. He focused on keeping Lee's path clear with Sakura. An explosive kunai put a hole in another Sunagakure Shinobi's chest and he fought down the urge to vomit at the sight.

He was a Shinobi defending his home, defending his family, defending his friends. He killed the people trying to destroy his home, kill his family, kill his friends.

"Fine." Choji was drawing back his partially enlarged fist from delivering a no doubt crippling blow to an attacker from Suna. "How close are we to getting out of this?"

"A few more seconds." Shikamaru was right.

The group entered the tunnels that ran around the stadium and Lee immediately took off. Shikamaru didn't say anything but follow his lead and Sakura and Choji followed him without a word. Shikamaru figured Ino figured out she didn't need to say much with someone like Lee. He was aware enough of every one of her movements when she was on his back she didn't need to bother with talking. It would actually just be a waste of time.

"I believe we are getting close." Lee picked up speed and Shikamaru pushed himself to keep up, Sakura matching his pace and Choji going slightly slower to stay in the back. His eyes were on a constant rotation as he moved with kunai in his hands.

"I hope so, this is exhausting." Shikamaru received a look from Sakura but didn't let it bother him. "I'm not cut out for running this fast."

He felt that if Ino wasn't as focused as she was, she would tell him to quit being lazy. He was lucky she was.

"Alright, that's it." Asuma let his trench knives fly from his hands and burned through the necessary hand signs for his technique. "Katon: Haisekisho!" A black cloud engulfed the Sunagakure invaders approaching him and he bit down on the flint in his mouth.

They were engulfed in a massive explosion.

"I thought they would expect that from you." Kurenai landed next to him, a number of Sunagakure Shinobi unconscious behind her. They would be earmarked for the Torture and Interrogation Force if she had time but she settled on throwing a hail of shuriken behind her to end them. "Ino used it in the first round after all."

"I wouldn't put people who invade a village like Konoha high on the intelligence scale." Asuma snatched his falling trench knives out of the air and looked to where Anko and Kakashi took on Chiyo the Elder. "Think we should go back them up?"

"They'll be fine." Kurenai leaped to the top of the stadium and Asuma joined her a moment later. "We need to support the rest of the village now."

"Damn…things look pretty bad." Asuma observed the burning buildings, the bodies he could already see strewn across the streets, and the battles that still raged below them. He cast his eyes back to the arena and saw the sand still shifting. "And that thing is still inside and no one knows when the Ichibi is going to go wild."

"I can't believe I'm saying this but leave it to the Uzumaki." Kurenai ignored the way Asuma looked at her. "He'll want to finish his fight at least." She leaped from the stadium. Asuma followed after her. He formed a number of hand signs in the middle of the air and took in a deep breath as Kurenai threw a number of shuriken.

"Futon: Shinkujin!" He breathed out bullets of greenish air on each of her projectiles that turned the shuriken into deadly fan blades.

"Katon: Endan!" Kurenai further complimented the technique with a barrage of small fire bullets.

The two had used the combination before and their Chakra was matched rather well for it. The already deadly wind shuriken were lit aflame and struck the Sunagakure Shinobi below them with lethal force thanks to the practiced accuracy of the two Jonin responsible for the attack.

"I almost thought you wouldn't manage to catch on Asuma." Kurenai landed first, two Sunagakure Shinobi were frozen like statues when she locked them into a Genjutsu.

"You thought I'll miss a set up that obvious?" Asuma chuckled as the two invaders fell with a quick slash of his Chakra laden trench knives to the throat of each. "I'm not blind."

The two Jonin began to assist the Shinobi on the streets with evacuating the civilians of Konohagakure, the focus of the invaders shifting from spreading chaos and destruction to defeating the two powerful Jonin that had joined the battle in the streets.

They were failing.

Kurenai trapped two in Genjutsu as they approached, Asuma cut down one and mortally wounded a second with his Flying Swallow, and Kurenai trapped three more with Genjutsu that turned them against their comrades in a maddened frenzy. Both formed a set of hand signs together and took deep breaths.

"Katon: Goen no Jutsu!" Both spewed out twin streams of fire that swept down two streets next to each other, widening to consume the entirety of the street as the two continued to breath out the flames. A pair of Sunagakure Shinobi tried to strike them from behind only to be nearly instantly taken down by the arriving Iruka Umino.

He continued on his way without stopping. He threw a handful of shuriken at another Sunagakure Shinobi and didn't watch their body fall from the rooftops to the ground. He had a goal in mind as he reached the stadium and began to race up it.

'Naruto.'

"This isn't good." Jiraiya observed the trio of large snakes that barreled towards him, the Shinobi that did their best to hold one of the gates of Konoha. He quickly formed a number of hand signs and blew out a stream of flames, torching the ground in front of the gates and dissuading the slithering snakes. They would figure out a way through the flames eventually, discover a way to put them out more likely, and the Toad Sage raced through another fair number of hand signs before he struck the wall.

His Chakra raced down the wall and a swamp formed, the fires burned themselves out on the patches of ground he left it before it was swallowed by the swamp. Jiraiya let air escape him with an almost sigh as he rose back to his full height and observed the trio of large snakes that had appeared suddenly in front of the gates.

'No doubt about it.' He took note of the mark each bore on the red scarf at the base of their heads. 'These guys are from the Ryuchi Cave.' Their possible summoner was a short list. Jiraiya had been all around the world and he didn't find many people with the Chakra needed to summon not only the three snakes in front of him but the three snakes he could imagine were located at the other gates to the village. 'Orochimaru.'

Jiraiya lifted both thumbs to his mouth.

"If he wants to play the summoning game, we'll play." Jiraiya moved through the necessary hand signs before he dropped from the wall and slammed a hand onto the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!"

He was engulfed in a massive cloud of smoke.

"He's had his fun and played his hand." Jiraiya's voice came from the smoke as three large forms were slowly becoming visible. "He's had his turn." Slowly the three massive forms were revealed.

The dual katana wielding toad known as Gamahiro was first, his massive blades drawn. A croak that shook the buildings came from the massive warrior.

The sasumata and shield wielding toad known as Gamaken was next. He rested his sasumata on his shoulders and readied himself for battle with his shield in hand.

Last was the Toad Boss himself in the fearsome warrior known as Gamabunta. His tanto was held in hand and he looked at the scene he had been summoned to with distaste.

"Oi, Jiraiya, what do you think you're doing summoning us three all together?" The Toad Boss turned his eyes upward, the white haired Toad Sage standing atop his head. "And what I tell you about standing on top of my head and doing your poses?"

"Konoha's being invaded. Orochimaru's involved and loaned his summons to the battle. Three of the giant snakes outside are located at each of the gates to the village. I figured you, Ken, and Hiro can take on one each and leave this one to me." Jiraiya leaped off of the Toad Boss and back to the wall. He turned to the three summons and looked each in the eye. "What do you say, up for a fight or have you all gotten soft since I last visited Mount Myoboku?"

"You better have something good when we're celebrating." Gamabunta drew his sheathed tanto up in both hands. He turned to his fellow summons. "Let's go."

He received twin nods before the trio of Toads leaped over the walls to Konoha with a single leap and split up in midair. They avoided the swamp Jiraiya had summoned and hopped to the other gates with speed surprising for creatures their size. Jiraiya watched them leave from his perch before his focus shifted to the forest, trees falling one after the other as the snakes he would be facing off against planned something. His swamp was a distraction to his real tactic, the summoning of such powerful reinforcements, and he canceled the technique. He dropped from the wall and stood before the gates, standing before the snakes that slithered out of the ruined forest.

"You three are really unlucky." Jiraiya rolled his shoulders before bringing his hands together in front of him. "You could have stood a chance against those Toads I summoned but it's just unfair that you three have to fight the legendary Toad Sage, Jiraiya!"

A Rasengan took form in his hand as he vanished from the sight of the snakes and it grew to giant size. He appeared on the top of the head of the first snake and used his Chakra to keep himself in place as it immediately began to thrash in place. It would have rolled over to crush him if Jiraiya didn't have stone restraints take hold of the serpent before it could do so. He lifted his Giant Rasengan into the air, let it shine brightly above his head like a blue sun, before he brought it down.

"Giant Rasengan!" The snake hissed in pain as his Rasengan struck, powered it into the ground, and it vanished in a cloud of smoke back to the Ryuchi Cave. Jiraiya landed on the ground and slammed his palm that had not held the Rasengan into it.

Blue pillars of stone stopped another snake from moving, electricity caging it in place as Jiraiya threw himself out of the way of the crushing tail of the only active snake at the gate and formed the needed hand signs for his next attack. He breathed it and blew out a single massive bullet of air, half the size of the giant snake's head that was easily avoided. Jiraiya threw a pair of giant shuriken behind it and the snake hissed in pain as both struck it beneath its jaws. Jiraiya pulled himself up on the wire strings attached to them and swung himself over to the top of the snake's head.

"Twin Giant Rasengan!" He released the wire strings and threw his arms out to the side where the Rasengan whirred to life. He threw himself down and struck the snake with both devastating attacks on the top of its head and powered it into the ground.

He clapped his hands together while in the air and a dull blue oven consumed the snake trapped by the electricity. He found the small opening in comparison to the structure's sheer size and breathed out a stream of fire.

'It shed its skin.' He didn't smell burning snake. Jiraiya looked down to where he approached the ground and saw it begin to crack as the snake pushed its way out to attack him with its jaws wide to swallow him hole.

"Summoning Jutsu!" A small Toad looking similar to a gourd fell into its mouth but landed on one of the large fangs before powering itself away. It disappeared into the forest, its green coloring concealing it from the snake as it broke the rest of its body free and its tongue darted out. It was trying to find the Toad's scent but was failing.

"I need a plan." Jiraiya kept himself out of the acid within the Toad's stomach. He sat cross legged as the Toad came to a stop in a branch somewhere, fully muted its Chakra and hid its scent like he knew it would. "That one is wise to my little tactic but I shouldn't be surprised. It just saw its two brothers in arms go down from the same attack. One even tried to harden its head with Chakra and still failed to stop me." He looked around his current surroundings, hoping to find inspiration. "It's going to be tricky to take it down by hitting its soft spot."

Inspiration came. Jiraiya smiled as he brought his fist to his palm as he rose.

"I just won't hit it."

He leaped from the Toad's stomach and the cork it held in its mouth popped out as Jiraiya emerged and spewed out a considerable amount of mud, striking the forest ground as he landed on a tree branch. It the snake didn't already know he was free, the Chakra his attack unleashed had it gunning for him. Jiraiya wasn't concerned as he formed the needed hand signs and a copy of himself appeared on either side, one formed from the mud and another from his Chakra.

"Aren't we just some handsome devils?" The Jiraiya on the right couldn't help but turn to admire his two identical counterparts.

"That we are." The Jiraiya in the middle look to either side, brought a hand up to his chin. "Almost too handsome for the ladies to handle."

"And now's there's three of us?" The Jiraiya on the left chuckled. "Men across the world will be jealous, women across the world will swoon!"

The hissing of the snake made all three snap to focus. The snake ripped through the trees in its way with an angered hiss, Chakra leaking from its body and giving it durability stronger than steel. It was determined to destroy the human that had wounded two of its brothers and then destroy the village its master wanted to see destroyed.

"Let's go!" All three announced together as the one in the center took to the air, the one on his right charged forward, and the one on his left dropped to the muddy ground.

* * *

AN: The note arrives.

This will lack replies to reviews. I apologize for that but know I enjoyed reading each one. Even if some talked about dropping the story.

So the main point of this note is to say Orange Legion is now on a long hiatus. Real life cut in and I can't do a lot about it. I'm actually disappointed with the quality of the chapters I just posted overall, especially the last two, because I feel like this is all rushed. I wanted to get past the invasion before today, be able to leave this on hiatus at the end of an arc that let the story end (however long it would take to get back to it) but I barely reached it in time. I'm sorry for that. Deeply sorry but I can't do anything about it. But, if you do feel disappointed, if you do feel that this sucks, I encourage you to take up this idea as your own. That's what I want with all my stories, for people to take up the idea I have, the idea it gives them, and make them better, and make new stories. I won't be able to write but I can still, hopefully, check out my profile and see if you drop any PMs about taking up this story in my stead. I knew my time to write Orange Legion was limited but I honestly thought that I could reach the goal I set. I couldn't. I tried but I also couldn't forgive myself if I produced complete garbage. That's not fair to anyone who decided to give Orange Legion a chance, decided to keep reading, decided to follow this story, decided to favorite this story, and decided to leave a review. I could have rushed through everything but I didn't because I wouldn't be able to stand what I did later. This story will come back. It may take a long time but I won't give up on it. I've barely struck the surface of what I wanted to with Orange Legion. I have so much more I want to do and I will do it.

Until then.

Peace.


	43. Blood in the Streets!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1!

AN: Full Chapter Title: Blood in the Streets! Battle in the Hospital!

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Kunai clashed, shuriken struck flesh, fists clashed with flesh, and blood ran from friend and foe. All of it pointed to one thing as screams of war, screams of rage, screams of grief, and screams of madness ripped through the village so many called home. War waged within the streets of Konohagakure and with war came the inevitability of death of ally and foe alike. And with death came anguish, rage, despair.

"Mari-chan!" A young husband calling for his young wife before the blade of the enemy struck him in the back.

"Gohan, come with mommy now!" A panicked mother trying to escape the carnage with her little boy before death claimed one of them. Her struggles were nearly rendered worthless when a Suna Shinobi struck at them both with a deadly wind technique.

She was one of the lucky ones. A Konoha Shinobi arrived just in time to snatch both from the ground and carry them away, her partner appearing silently behind the Suna Shinobi and slitting his throat without remorse or hesitation.

"Ganta? Ganta please no!" Another mother was not so lucky. A kunai laid in her boy's back, leaving his body lifeless as she desperately called to him.

"All of you, run to the shelter." A Shinobi of Konoha landed on a nearby rooftop, blood staining his form but imperceptible to the civilians below him. "Get to safety!"

'Like I'll yet any of them escape.'

He noticed the shadow and a trio of shuriken flew to intercept him. He forced him to reveal himself as the blade in one hand was used to bat away his projectiles. The kunai in his other hand was held close and with good reason as a fourth shuriken flew free of the shadow of one of the three. He deflected the fatal blow to his throat.

He drew and raised twin kunai from his side and made use of them to block the twin blades of his attacker. He ignored the screams from civilians as they ran. He focused not on the preservation of his life from the blade of a foreign foe but protecting those who cannot do so themselves. He pushed away his attacker and threw one kunai forward. A single swing of his foe's blade was enough to deflect the thrown knife. His other hand reached for the giant shuriken attached to his back with his now free hand.

A rain of senbon pierced his body before he could do so. Blood ran from his mouth as a thin line before a blade was sent through his body. He heard the clicking of a puppet but could not see it. His body refused to move, a combination of the poisons that coated the needles in his back and the mortal wound he had just been dealt.

"Die." A kunai was drawn across his throat. His body fell back, removed itself from the blade, and struck the ground.

'...tree leaves shall bud anew.' His eyes drifted close, embraced the darkness, just as the invader realized an explosive tag had been planted on his stomach.

"SH-!" The last act of the dying Shinobi made sure he had a foe join him in the afterlife.

"This is getting us nowhere." Ibiki threw out a handful of shuriken, piercing through a number of Sunagakure attackers with hardly a glance. He looked to where Anko stood off from the battle between Chiyo the Elder and Kakashi of the Sharingan.

It was an incredible sight.

Kakashi's hounds, a Jutsu he may have created or had simply copied, proved a match for Chiyo's puppets for the moment. They could not be trapped, could not be destroyed without reforming seconds later, and worked about as well as the ten puppets Chiyo managed all at once. It was to a devastating effect that destroyed a vast majority of their surrounding but against an enemy like Kakashi, who had added a small host of Kage Bunshin to the mix, it was ineffective in ending the battle.

'The fact that she can use ten puppets simultaneously is a testament of her skills.' Ibiki would not normally compliment a foe but this was a special case. Chiyo the Elder had truly been a terrifying foe to face on the battlefield in her youth. Now she was simply the stuff of nightmares for many. A Puppeteer had a knack for becoming much better as they aged, as they gained more experience, and Chiyo was no difference. She was an absolute monster on the battlefield and now she was much worse.

He recognized the puppets Kakashi fought against and couldn't deny the fear he felt.

The Chikamatsu Collection was said to have conquered an entire fortress by itself once. In the hands of such a skilled and renowned Puppeteer like Chiyo he worried for the safety of Konoha.

'This is bad.' Each weapon the puppets wielded was dripping with a thousand different poisons, poisons designed by the old Shinobi herself and no doubt every single cut, even the slightest scratch, would prove to be absolutely lethal. The poisons she created for the war were only ever countered by Tsunade of the Sannin after all. 'How long can Kakashi keep this up? How long can we last with here until we can get reinforced? How long can we last after that?'

The Head of Torture and Interrogation wanted to curse at the fact this all had to happen now, the village still extremely weakened from the rampage of the Nine Tail so long ago. If that chaos had never consumed the village, claimed the lives of so many great and powerful veteran Shinobi, claimed the life of the Fourth Hokage himself in the end, then Sunagakure would have never thought to invade a village so abundant in not only powerful Shinobi but skilled Shinobi as well.

'It's a bad idea to lament the dead during a time like this.' He avoided the barrage of shuriken launched by a trio of Sunagakure Shinobi and responded with a pair of kunai as he dashed forward. Two crumpled to the ground, the Chakra enhanced kunai ripping through their Flak Jackets, hearts, and out through the back. The last Suna-nin drew a blade to meet the scarred Shinobi in close quarters combat when Ibiki pulled on the wire strings attached to the kunai. He crossed his arms, crossed the Chakra laden wire strings, and he bifurcated the Shinobi foolish enough to only focus on what was ahead of him.

'It's time to focus on keeping myself alive and send these invaders to join them.' He rushed forward, his eyes locking onto two more attackers even as a third was slain by a expertly thrown shuriken finding its mark in their throat.

Away from Ibiki and the battles waged among the stands, a group of four of Sunagakure's equivalent to Konoha's ANBU Black Ops awaited outside a door.

"You know your jobs." In the medical area, the ANBU assigned to be the leader looked to the three Sunagakure ANBU with him. The three nodded as he lifted a hand to the door.

Information gathered just before the invasion commenced revealed that Hinata Hyuga was present on the other side of the door. In addition to her, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame were said to be with the Hyuga heiress.

Two valuable hostages and a Hyuga was simply too perfect.

The fools didn't know what awaited them on the other side of the door.

No words were needed among the team anymore as they readied themselves. Three stepped away as the masked Shinobi channeled his Wind Chakra to his fingers in preparation.

He ran his fingers over the perimeter of the door, silently severing the hinges. Two moved forward, silently taking hold of the door and sticking it to their palms with Chakra. The Sunagakure ANBU who had cut the door away stepped back, the other ANBU coming to his side and both prepared themselves to enter the room. The two holding the door silently performed the same Wind Chakra technique as their leader and split the door in half. A minor application of Chakra made sure the door didn't separate just yet.

A hand signal was given.

The door halves were silently pulled away.

The four ANBU entered the room.

"Halt." The shields of Naruto's Praetorians forming an impassable wall stopped them from continuing much further than the doorway. A centurion at the head of them leveled his sword at the team of Sungakure's ANBU with bloodlust in his eyes.

'The Kyubi's Jinchuriki's clones?' The ANBU stepped back at this unforeseen development. He drew a kunai to his hand in the blink of an eye and ran Wind Chakra down the blade as he took in the sight of the dozens of blondes in the room. 'This is unexpected.'

"Surrender or die." The centurion spoke the words that the most elite of Sunagakure's forces needed to decide their fate with.

The ANBU's eyes looked past the centurion and towards the far end of the room where another smaller group of Praetorians surrounded the bed of Neji Hyuga, the Genin still unconscious. Within that circle of flesh and steel it was clear to see not only the Hyuga's heiress Hinata Hyuga but her teammates, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame as well.

'The mission is to retrieve the heiress and any valuable hostages.' The ANBU tightened his grip on his kunai. The ANBU assigned to the extraction team already knew what to do.

The mission mattered more than anything else to them all. Only the mission mattered because only Sunagakure's supremacy over all others mattered in the end.

No words needed to be exchanged. The four silently vanished from sight in a blitz forward. They avoided the blades of those in front of them, two remained behind in the rear of the circle of shields to battle the clones of the Jinchuriki while the other two continued forward.

The centurion gave a shark like grin.

"Have it your way." The centurion drove his shield into the ground and Chakra rippled across it. The Praetorians behind him mirrored his actions just as a hurricane of swirling blades raced forward. Those at the door changed the direction their shields faced, clashed with the twin wakizashi one of the ANBU ran Wind Chakra through and the single katana the second wielded with their swift blades and the unmoving shields.

The shields of the Orange Legion's strongest, amplified by a surge of Chakra that appeared as a rippling blue light across their surface, obtained a decisive victory over the blades of the two ANBU.

'Dammit.' Anger was carefully hidden as the ANBU threw himself forward with his partner, another kunai joining the first and Wind Chakra running across the blades of both. He exchanged a silent look with his partner and received a silent nod as a scroll was readied by a flick of their wrist, a seal tattooed onto his skin releasing it into his palm.

"Charge!"

"HOO!"

As one, the soldiers of the Orange Legion tore their shields free of the ground, held their swords at the ready, and charged forward.

The two ANBU attempting to insure their exit clashed with a half dozen blades each. Chakra running across the blades made it difficult to make such a thing a reality. One fell against the onslaught of blades, a bloody gash across the chest his end as his katana clattered to the floor. The other saw the fall of their comrade and leaped up to the ceiling. Their feet stuck the surface as they sheathed their paired blades and drew the large iron fan off their back.

Six crescent shaped blades of Chakra soared at him from across the room, ripped through the fan when it was raised to defend, and a bloody corpse fell to the ground.

The ANBU didn't stop his charge forward and neither did his partner, shock did not cover their faces at the reality of two of Sunagakure's most elite dead at the hands of a Genin.

The Praetorians on the other hand seemed to take glee at such a fact, bloodlust in their eyes and eager grins on their faces as they charged for the blood of Suna's Shinobi to stain their polished blades crimson.

A surge of Chakra down his partner's arm brought forth a trio of small puppets, no bigger than the birds one would find among the trees of Konohagakure during a time of peace. Chakra rippled from what approximated from their beaks, spread to cover the small creations, and Wind Chakra turned them into deadly drills. A single hand was all that was needed to command the simple puppets as the ANBU allowed a simple mechanism to activate and open the beaks. A seal tag hidden inside activated with a single pulse of Chakra and a barrage of senbon shot forward.

"Shields!" More than one voice commanded the raising of the defensive instrument and they were followed. Each Praetorian came to a halt in the blink of an eye, Chakra channeled to their feet helping them avoid sliding across the tiled floor. Their shields were driven into the ground as they hunched over behind them, Chakra rippling across the surface once more.

The shields in front of the puppets of course held they were riddle with the sharpened needles but they were not punctured through in the slightest.

With a single hand seal the explosive tags carefully wrapped around the needle before being sealed unfurled, burned, and detonated.

The Chakra enhanced shields of the Legion didn't allow the normally devastating attack to be as effective as it normally was. It was diminished.

His partner charged forward with his kunai held at the ready, slipping past the shields of the Praetorians in the smoke and lengthening the reach of his weapons with a surge of Wind Chakra to each of them. They were lethally sharp blades as he cut down the Praetorians on either side of him. He leaped into the air and threw the two kunai into the unprotected, less protected than their front at least, backs of two more of the armored clones. The blades of wind ripped through the Praetorians from front to back, both letting out what amounted to a death rattle as their blood spilled to the floor.

The Praetorians were distracted by the swift fall of their own, a handful turning to their fallen brothers in arms with something close to shock crossing their faces as they observed them slump forward, the wind blade that had taken their lives the only thing supporting them as the tips cut into the floor. One turned back to the ANBU they battled against, one of the Wind Chakra covered bird-like puppets batted away by the Chakra layered shield the Praetorians wielded. He slashed forward with his Chakra wreathed sword, a fire like arc of Chakra erupting forward to crash against a slash of Wind Chakra unleashed by the ANBU with a swipe of his fingers. Two more joined him in his assault, striking out at the ANBU with two more roaring blades of Chakra.

The Wind Chakra surrounding the two thrown kunai quickly destabilized itself and the shell ruptured.

A barrage of wind bullets erupted forward and ripped through the dead Praetorians. More joined the two, blood scattering across the tiled floor as more fell to the unexpected assault from within their own ranks. The ANBU dropped to the ground in a crouch and surged forward with a fresh pair of kunai in his hands.

He clashed with the centurion present almost immediately, anger filling his blue eyes. He broke away from the possible blade lock and threw his shield forward, the ANBU not expecting it but still able to avoid the worse of the blunt force attack. He was struck by the shield but moved through the air with it, adding the force of the thrust with a push to the ground from his feet.

Three burning blades of Chakra ripped through the air once more towards his partner and two of the puppets were sacrificed in order to stop the attack. Their wings ripped free of the main body, Chakra spread and a shield quickly took its place. The separated pieces of the birds fell to the ground almost immediately after the attacks had been blocked and two more birds launched themselves forward from the scroll.

"You Sunagakure Shinobi are skilled." The centurion complimented his foe with something close to a grimace crossing his face. His blade sliced through the air, unleashed a blade of Chakra to soar towards his opponent. The ANBU didn't attempt to counter it, finding avoidance a better option as he turned to avoid the attack. He powered himself back with a push against his back and blazed through the necessary hand signs for his next attack as he threw his two kunai forward.

The centurion didn't bother dodging the two thrown weapons, knocking one off to the side with his shield and batting the other aside with the flat of his blade. The ANBU clapped his hands together before drawing them apart, a sphere of winds forming between his palms before he threw his palms forward.

'Foolish to block.' The centurion avoided the attack thanks to an innate danger sense. The roaring winds within made him cautious to block it with his shield. The attack passed by him and he threw himself forward and towards the ANBU that was his foe.

The ANBU prepared himself for combat, throwing four shuriken forward to hopefully claim the life of his opponent only to fail as his Chakra wreathed shield once again batted aside his projectiles.

'Time to e-'

"URK!" The ANBU's mask stopped the blood from splattering across the ground. He glanced down and could only see the hole the bullets of Chakra had left as they ripped through him.

He made an attempt to turn, to see the mass of Praetorians that had thrust their pilums forward and unleashed the attack, but he collapsed to the ground in the midst of the action.

ANBU knew when to retreat. The scroll burned itself out when it unleashed a dozen mechanical birds, sent all around the room as explosive clay and smoke bombs hidden inside scattered in every direction as they fired away from inside, shattering the main body of the dozen of puppets and making the Praetorians immediately raise their shields in defense.

The seals that branded all of them were activated with a hand seal in the midst of his escape, their bodies engulfed by flames to destroy any evidence of their presence in the room. The ANBU cloaked his Chakra signature a moment later, vanishing from the sight of most sensors and rushing to the extraction point where two ANBU teams awaited his arrival.

The fact he would have to report his mission as failure would prove complex.

At that moment, the ANBU bearing a plain tan mask vowed to never fall against such a force again.

"That pathetic coward runs from our might." The centurion sheathed his blade a moment later, a growl escaping his lips as he turned to some of his fallen century. The blood they shed from their wounds had spread across much of the tiles around them and their weapons fallen from their hands. The centurion approached one of his fallen brothers in arms and fell to a knee. He struck a single fist against the ground, the other crossing over his armored heart, and bowed his head to the fallen.

"Rest my brothers, you have earned it." The centurion's words were a mere whisper, the Praetorians with him bowing their heads as well and those closest joining him by letting a knee and their fist striking the ground as they silently saluted their brothers. "Our victory was gained but not without sacrifice."

The centurion rose his head, rose back to his feet, and allowed himself to let out a single sigh.

'Foolish it seems to believe we may remain untouched by the true cost of battle.' The centurion almost wanted to laugh, laugh at the fact that he had once thought that he and his brothers in arms would be able to avoid the ever present specter known as death. The Legion was not untouched by death, walked with it on every march, and had met it on the final path many had walked on their campaigns, from Silver Fang to the battles of Wave. He had foolishly believed they could escape its grasp merely because they could call themselves Praetorians of the Orange Legion, call themselves the elite of the elite.

It was foolishness befitting a newborn babe, not a centurion of Caesar's Orange Legion.

"Rest my brothers, rest and know the blood of Suna will stain the blade of your brothers soon." With those words the last he would speak to the dead, the centurion turned to the two he had been assigned to protect. Beyond the brief assistance through use of their Chakra attacks from pilum, the Praetorians did not break the barrier their shields formed around the bed of Neji Hyuga and his cousin Hinata Hyuga. Both were of interest to Caesar for different reasons and the centurion, along with his century, had been assigned the duty to protect them.

Caesar's finest would not fall to any foe sent against them.

"This place is compromised it seems." The centurion looked to the exit, Praetorians already moving out to the halls, their shields at the ready with their brothers. The door was blocked by a separate host of Praetorians and the centurion focused on a new plan. "We will need to move both of them to someplace more secure."

"Where are we to take them once beyond these walls?" His second in command, the decanus of his century, asked a rather important question. "I do not mean to disrespect you but the village is at war Centurion Uzumaki. We are to move them, a target so vital to the enemy they will send some of their most elite to capture her? We would be overwhelmed no matter our prowess."

"We will move them." The centurion would not be swayed, he moved to the blinds and looked through them to the chaos that engulfed the village below. "Send some of our force forth with all haste to scout out several routes to travel on. We will move down several, keeping the two separate. I will move one myself with half our force under my command and you shall move the other with the second half under your command."

"Three hundred Praetorians split across the two of us?" The decanus joined him at the window, a hand placing itself on the hilt of his blade. "It will be difficult even if all goes according to plan Centurion Uzumaki, I shall call forth archers to assist us and make our journey simpler. They will be instructed to follow us from the rooftops, scout ahead with a small detachment to keep us aware of what we may face."

"If you had not already proved yourself in battle Decanus Uzumaki I would almost believe you doubted the ability of our Praetorians." The centurion did his best to offer a grin to his second in command and the decanus did his best to offer one in reply.

Eleven of their own were dead. They had silently counted the number of bodies on the ground, Praetorians that would be honored when they were buried. They would be honored when their brothers pressed onward, slayed the enemy when they could not, and make sure the dreams of Caesar's glorious Uzumaki Empire would never be halted.

"I will head to the roof and summon more of our force to aid us Centurion Uzumaki." The decanus of the century turned from the window and headed towards the door. The centurion remained where he stood and continued to look out at the street.

Death and chaos ran unbound below. Soon he would be leading the Praetorians he commanded through such a place and he would need to face foe after foe, overcome battle after battle, and send so many to the embrace of the ever present specter known as death.

'This will be a challenge.'

A smile truly did come to his face at such a thought.

'We Praetorians shall overcome all in our path.'

He turned away from the window. He had much to do to continue the path of glory for Caesar's Uzumaki Empire after all.

And he would not fail.

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AN: So, first off, what's up? Second off, I'M BACK! Sort of. This is just a sneak peak to what I have planned for Orange Legion in the future. Enjoy it. That's really all I can say. I have a lot more written up, currently going through editing and revisions as I tend to do with Orange Legion, but this chapter is good enough for me to, with a phrase explaining it best, let it go (NOT THE SONG!). Anyway, I aim to have a fair chunk added to Orange Legion's word count and hopefully leave all the readers of this story satisfied before real life once again intersects with my plans. I intend to get through the invasion, something I realized is a lot less chapters than the build up, before I have to deal with real life once more. Still not one for very long ANs so that's about it. If you have any questions, comments, and/or concerns contact me through PM.

Peace.


	44. Unexpected Developments!

**Disclaimer:** Refer to chapter 1.

 **AN:** Life sure is strange.

Chapter Title: Unexpected Developments!

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"You are a strange old woman." Kakashi crouched on the railing, ignoring the rolling waves of sand beneath him. He focused on his opponent, Anko crouching down in front of him, her hands reaching behind her for a number of senbon even as several large snakes slithered down from her sleeves. "You shouldn't be so active at your age."

"You are just as annoying as I thought you would be." Chiyo pulled back, all ten of her puppets drawing back to surround her in a semicircle. She was cautious, it was obvious from the way she refused to give Kakashi a direct line of sight with her. She hid it well but she was afraid of the lazy Jonin. He was one of the most dangerous Shinobi in the Elemental Nations after all. It was almost a miracle she had lasted as long as she had against him, his clones, and that strange hound technique he used.

She was lucky he had let her have the numerical advantage again, dismissing his clones not long after joining the fight and reaching this sudden but needed lull.

Now all she was worried about what was what he would do now.

'Her puppets are good.' As Kakashi silently sat across from one of the Honored Siblings, he sorted through the multitude of memories his Kage Bunshin had given him once he had dispelled them. 'That Chikamatsu guy must have been truly incredible to make things this dangerous.' The Copy-nin glanced down to the scratch on the metal plate on the top of his hand. He considered it a souvenir of the battle. 'I can die really easy if I'm not careful enough with her and her little tricks.' His mind was running through information at speeds all but a handful of Nara Clan members could handle. He was focusing on his opponent, watching her for the slightest twitch to launch an attack, as he did such a thing. 'She must have been practicing with those things to be ready for this invasion. Her Puppet Brigade is probably waiting to attack later.' Kakashi, unseen by Chiyo or anyone really, opened his covered eye and used the Sharingan to see something very concerning. 'That little seal she put down is making me nervous. The moment that sand clears, something bad is going to come from it. I already know. But what is it? Is it more reinforcements from Sunagakure to the heart of the village? Have they really mastered Fuinjutsu that much like we feared? If they did, why is their Jinchuriki so unstable? Is it some powerful summon we don't know about? Is it something else to draw even more of our forces away like with the Ichibi? Most of the ANBU are still holding themselves back even now, waiting for that beast to show itself and take it someplace else with the best the village can do without the Fourth around.' The masked Shinobi withheld the urge to sigh as he closed his concealed eye once again. 'I need to finish this before the Ichibi starts its rampage here.'

He would be there this time. He would make sure he would be there.

'Time to take things seriously it looks like.' Kakashi tensed. Chiyo sent the dual sword wielding puppet forward with a twitch of her finger.

A single kunai wreathed in Lightning Chakra was all he needed to counter the two swords and cut them down, three quarters of each weapon flying through the air as Anko threw a barrage of senbon into the puppet, locking up its joints with her scary level of precision. It was almost funny how similar each of the puppets were to actual living and breathing humans. The same anatomy models Anko had memorized to perform her job so well helped her battle the humanoid puppets in front of her now.

Kakashi darted forward, past the immobilized puppet, as he raced through a set of hand seals only he knew. He ended the sequence by lowering his hand, grabbing hold of his wrist with his opposite hand, and sending the necessary Chakra to his hand.

'Is that?' Chiyo's eyes widened at the blinding light that emerged from the hand of the Jonin. She pulled back, more than one puppet coming before her to block the attack with a shield of Chakra emerging from its arms via hidden mechanisms only now exposing themselves. 'He's going to use something like that already?'

'He's serious.' Anko looked at the technique with almost awe. She was amazed that Kakashi would take such lengths to end his opponent. It was almost hard to believe the Copy-nin was so motivated to unleash not only a technique as powerful as the one he was making use of but also the fact that it was one of his original technique too. 'The technique said to have split a bolt of lightning in half and Kakashis Hatake's only original technique.'

The Copy-nin vanished from sight, Chiyo's eyes widening as her defenses were rendered worthless, and Anko couldn't help the smile crossing her face.

'That old lady is done for.' Anko ran Chakra through the senbon in both of her hands and threw them forward, piercing through the Chakra shields Chiyo had placed between herself and Kakashi and once again locking the puppets into place. The fact she had severed the Chakra strings as well only helped seal Chiyo's face.

"Raikiri!" Kakashi was behind her, the Honored Sibling attempting to leap away but it was hopeless. She had hardly begun to react when the raw electricity originating from within the assassination technique had already locked her body in place.

"Shakuton: Kajosatsu!" The Copy-nin narrowly pulled back in time, avoiding the white and red sphere of pure heat.

'Of course someone like her would be here.' Kakashi drew back from the Honored Sibling, avoiding the attack that he knew would have claimed his life. 'Pakura of the Scorch Release.'

Kakashi looked towards where a somewhat familiar Kunoichi stood above him. Her two-toned hair and pupil-less brown eyes would reveal her identity to anyone who had lived through the war she had joined so young just like so many others. The same war she had helped tip towards the stalemate that would eventually end it.

"I didn't expect to see you here Pakura." Kakashi stood as casually as one could with a technique like his Lightning Cutter filling one of his hands. Pakura looked at him for a moment with an unreadable expression before a dark smile stretched across her face.

"I'm not that surprised to see you here Kakashi." Pakura rose from the crouch she had arrived to the battle between the two Konoha Shinobi and the Honored Sibling of Sungakure in. Her eyes didn't leave Kakashi and his eyes didn't leave when their respective allies joined them.

"Kakashi, what's the plan with these two?" Anko didn't look to Kakashi as she asked her question, careful to keep her eyes on the elderly Kunoichi they fought together. The interruption of someone as renowned as Pakura brought a slight worry from her but she fought down any panic. She couldn't panic and expect to survive. The simple fact that she would die if she couldn't focus on her opponent, something which panic would greatly impede, allowed her to keep herself more than calm enough to keep a clear head.

"I thought we could ask them to leave the village, very nicely." Kakashi's reply made Pakura laugh.

"And here I thought the same, if I asked you nicely enough you would defect from Konoha and join Suna in destroying this village." Pakura's smile didn't leave her face as Kakashi shrugged his shoulder.

"You would have had to ask before all of this." Kakashi used the hand not holding his technique at the ready to gesture around him. His single visible eye turned cold. "I would have actually considered killing you quickly then. Now I'm going to have to take my time with it."

"Your sense of humor is a bit dry Kakashi." Pakura was still for only a moment longer before she was suddenly a blur of motion.

Away from the two, a sleeping civilian tumbled over to his side.

She was behind him, a kunai prepared to slit his throat before he could react. The Copy-nin ducked under the slash and turned with his Lightning Cutter aimed to slice her in half with its power. Pakura avoided death, powering herself out of the way with her hands planted on his extended arm. She lifted one hand off his arm, aimed to slice his throat once more, and failed when he thrust forward with his Lightning Cutter. It ripped through her chest and her shock was plain for the two observers to see.

The civilian struck the ground on his side.

Pakura shimmered back into view behind Kakashi and a blazing hot orb ripped through his unprotected back.

The Lightning Release Clone, spawned from the Raikiri, erupted into an electrical storm at the attack.

The real Kakashi and Pakura truly clashed. Kakashi caught her fist with one hand as she did the same with his own blow.

The civilian's head struck the ground and his body settled in its new position.

"You're just as good as I remember, aren't you Kakashi?" Pakura didn't draw back and neither did Kakashi. Her smile at the challenge he was to her showed a hint of madness. "You really do deserve that legend you've made for yourself it looks like."

"I wouldn't say that." Kakashi gave her an eye smile. "I'm too modest to call myself legendary."

Both pulled away. Both began the clash again with a pair of kunai in each of their hands, their exchange so fast and deadly neither of the two observers could manage to catch more than the moving colored streaks the two had become as they fought.

'This fight is insane.' Anko turned her attention to Chiyo, readying a number of senbon between her fingers once more. 'I'm no help there but I can end this old lady before she can activate that seal she planted.'

Her course decided, Anko launched herself forward just as Chiyo decided on the same course of action. She was met by a fresh puppet from the Honored Sibling, designed with melee in mind by its large and durable limbs ripping the stone apart when it missed a descending overhead heel kick. Anko didn't attempt to clash with the puppet Chiyo had unleashed with one hand, the other focused on finding the multitude of senbon she had planted in the famed Chikamatsu Collection to disable them with Chakra Threads from her other hand and pull them out. The Kunoichi focused on evasion of each of its strike, throwing both arms forward once she was sure it would take a moment to recover after a failed grab left both its fists embedded in the ground.

Snakes surged forward from her sleeves and aimed to crush the puppet only to be cut in half. A second puppet released by Chiyo, this one wielded a pair of slender blades, had joined the first and rescued it from its assured destruction.

'This is going to take longer than I thought.' Anko let the dead snakes fall from her sleeves and drew a kunai to each hand.

She threw herself towards the puppets at the same time they attacked her. Her kunai clashed with the twin blades of the new puppet while she twisted her body to the side to avoid the kick of the first puppet. She broke away threw one kunai towards the puppet that had just tried to break her bones and it was knocked aside by the blade wielding puppet.

'A lot longer.' She landed with a fair amount of distance between the two and drew a new kunai to her hand.

She darted forward once more and the puppets moved to intercept her.

"You!" Yugao lost her composure in the brief moment when her blade clashed with the Shinobi she knew had nearly killed Hayate. A Wind Chakra enhanced kunai kept him alive, kept him from losing his head to the blade of the angry cat masked ANBU in front of him. "I will kill you."

She broke away from the blade lock and regained control of herself, created a Shadow Clone on either side of herself, and launched herself and her clones forward as Chakra ripped down each of their blades. Baki looked at her, looked to the clones that wielded deadly sharp blades, and didn't waste time.

He raised two of his fingers into the air, unleashed his Wind Chakra as countless blades around him. It was his most versatile attack, one of his deadliest with the lives it had taken with ease, and he was sure it would do the same now.

"That's not going to work." The voice came from behind him, he narrowly avoided the blade swung for his head, lucky that it only left a small cut on the side of his neck. He threw a kunai towards the source of the voice and it was deflected like he figured it would. He took in a deep breath then, using the residual Wind Chakra from his Blade of Wind, and breathed out four spiraling bullets of air.

The ANBU's eyes tracked them behind her mask, she avoided them with ease, and charged towards him just as his original attack at last struck her clones.

He moved to avoid the rapid sword swings, backpedaling until he reached the edge of the rooftop.

The battle quickly shifted from horizontal to vertical as he seamlessly stepped down the side of the building, applied Chakra to his feet to remain there, and used a pair of kunai to counter the furiously blows of the ANBU determined to kill him.

She pressed her attack, her sword moving at speeds he would normally be impressed at if he wasn't currently on such an important mission.

Temari, keeping her brother up with his arm thrown over her shoulder, was still frozen in shock from the sudden attack.

He needed to move the two away from the village, get them to the rendezvous point, and make sure they get far away from the village that would soon be victim to the rampaging Ichibi.

'Damn this ANBU.' Baki stepped onto the street, throwing both short knives forward in an attempt to kill her. She bisected both with her Chakra enhanced blade. He moved to leap back up to the building and unleash his Blade of Wind once more in the middle of the air when she countered.

Her trio of Shadow Clones had survived the attack against them and jumped down to kill Baki with their blades. One came straight down, the two others came racing down the building on either side, sweeping in to cut him down from the side. Yugao was fine to strike upward from below.

'I can't die yet.' He unleashed his Blade of Wind more like a hammer, striking Yugao down directly as the force of unleashing his technique threw him up at an angle. He avoided the deadly blade from the descending Yugao, threw a trio of shuriken to hopefully dispel the clone, and a fresh pair of kunai allowed him to block the sweeping slashes from the two Shadow Clones coming from his side. He threw himself up using the blade lock, turning in midair to direct his attack as he once more raised two fingers.

Yugao saw such a thing and immediately dashed into the interior of the building they had fought down. His Blade of Wind lacerated her clones and dispelled them. He didn't waste his time or his opportunity, landing on the side of the building and sprinting up it after turning around in the blink of an eye. He charged across the rooftop and to the two children of the Kazekage.

'Damn this ANBU.' He hurried to grab them both and just blitz past everything else in their way. Escorting children from the battlefield was not very conductive to fighting an enemy the caliber of Konohagakure's near legendary ANBU. He needed them out of harm's way as soon as possible.

He could kill the ANBU afterwards.

Her blade cut through the roof in front of him, stabbed through his foot, and he collapsed at the sudden pain. He attempted to rise on his hands and launch himself forward when the ANBU cut through the roof once more, delivering a large cut to his front. He collapsed, blood quickly spreading from the wound. The ANBU cut her entrance to the roof, approached him with deliberate slowness. He heard her blade cut through the air as she reversed her grip on it and let it hover above his head. He could hear the Chakra she ran across it, almost feel it as it gathered at the tip.

She was no doubt memorizing the moment she had created, her defeated opponent soon to be nothing but a corpse with her blade driven through his skull.

His fingers twitched.

Her blade descended.

"Baki!"

A wall of wind slammed into the ANBU, threw her away from him and nearly off the rooftop.

Temari was fast, not wasting time with staring down the ANBU, face the Killing Intent exploding from her like the waves of the sea in a vicious storm, and grabbed Baki.

She was still too slow.

The ANBU's blade lunged through her shoulder as the Shinobi pushed her away, saving her from having the blade punch through her chest. The ANBU withdrew the blade, no doubt recognizing the girl she had nearly killed, and he knew she was already changing her mission.

She would capture the two valuable hostages in front of her for the Hokage, force the Kazekage to end the invasion at the risk of their execution.

His fingers twitched.

Her armored back was struck by a single near invisible blade of wind.

The ANBU ignored the pain, focused on turning to him and plunging her bloodied blade into his back above all else now.

A senbon was narrowly avoided, the ANBU withholding the desire to curse as the brother held the head of his puppet in shaking arms. She had avoided the poisoned weapon with ease and now she focused a burst of Killing Intent on him, the puppet head clattering to the ground a second later. His sister swung her fan once more while she was momentarily distracted.

An effective use of the Shunsin let her avoid the scythe like blade of wind. She darted towards the daughter of the Kazekage then, her sword held at her side. The large iron fan was swung down, turned into a club in a maneuver born more from desperation than anything else.

The ANBU didn't humor her.

She struck her in the stomach with the hilt of her blade, a palm strike from her free hand throwing the fan free of her grip, and the girl collapsed. She was dry heaving after the air had been knocked out of her. The ANBU grabbed her by the back of her top and returned her blade to its place on her back. A pair of bolas was sent spinning through the air, wrapping around the dark haired boy's legs and binding his arms to his side. The impact of the restraining equipment made him topple off the rooftop but a pair of kunai to the chains of the bola pinned him to the building next to them.

The ANBU finally turned to the Sunagakure Shinobi bleeding at her feet.

His fingers twitched.

She broke them with a stomp from her sandal clad foot.

His technique died before it could be put to use from the pain breaking his concentration.

The cat masked ANBU towering above his prone form silently rose her hands up to her throat, drew her thumb across it in a silent promise, and pulled her foot back. Darkness greeted Baki when she swung it into his face, knocking him out in a pool of his own blood and the growing weight of his failure.

'Damn that ANBU.' It was his last thought.

"This can't be it." Jiraiya sat down on the wall as he voiced his thoughts out loud, the titanic summon gone with a cloud of smoke once his clones and he had finished it off. "A few snakes to each of the gates? No one as smart as the Kazekage would think to invade without knowing the Shinobi Konoha had close by enough to assist. I could have guarded all four gates by myself if I wanted, summoning those three was to force these bastards to split up their forces to take them down. All of those snakes make this reek of my old teammate so that means my suspicions about Otogakure are right. He's the guy in charge of that place."

'That also means he's going to be here…somewhere he's hiding and waiting to strike like the snake he is.'

"Places." The voice below him was his only warning. He dodged the mass of hissing snakes that aimed to kill him, he threw himself into the air and unleashed a gout of flames without hand seals. A bullet of water of course countered it as he landed back on the wall, already rushing down it and falling onto all fours as his hair grew much larger.

"Hari Jigoku!" He unleashed his fearsome Needle Hell technique and observed the sudden smile on the pale face of his opponent. A fire surged from his feet, winds whipped around him as a gale, and stone rose to be his shield.

All done by a single hand seal from the Shinobi in front of him, three different Nature Transformations used at once. And that was even if the way he curled his fingers could even be considered a hand seal to begin with.

"Always got to correct me, huh?" Jiraiya rose back to his full height on the vertical surface.

"I can never stand fools." Before him stood his former teammate, another member of the Sanin, a former Konoha-nin and now one of the most fearsome Missing-nin in the entire world.

"I suppose you never change even with all this time, Orochimaru."

Orochimaru, the Snake Sannin, merely smiled. It was a twisted thing, one that promised only death if one was lucky. If they were unlucky then death would be the greatest gift to them.

"Neither have you Jiraiya."

The two silently stared at one another, neither showing anything beyond indifference on their faces.

A drop of water fell from a tree branch.

The stone beneath both their feet shattered, the shockwave of their blows colliding with the other producing more than enough force to do so.

The drop of water fell to the ground.

The Chakra Jiraiya and Orochimaru unleashed as they battled washed over the village, alerted everyone present to the fact that the Sannin had at last met and begun to battle.

* * *

AN: Thanks to all reviewers of Orange Legion. As usual.

Life happened again. Orange Legion is annoying to write. Problems happen. I try. Orange Legion continues to be annoying to write. Delays to my schedule happen. I will try to remedy this at some point in the future. Don't keep your hopes up.

Peace.


	45. The Battle Between Geniuses!

**Disclaimer:** Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Nothing.

Chapter Title: The Battle Between Geniuses!

* * *

Kakashi didn't let his sole original technique die. A number of lines of lightning actually moved away from it and out around him, forming a number of electric hounds that paced around him and Anko. The Tokubetsu Jonin knew when to follow the Jonin's lead and she did so, her senbon remaining secured away for now as she raced through a number of hand seals at speeds befitting a woman trained by a Sannin.

A trio of Anko soon crouched down in front of Kakashi and each raised their hands to their lips after racing through different seals.

A slicing wave of water fired through the middle of the air as Anko swung her head from one side to the other.

A barrage of air bullets soared forward above the wave of water, interspaced and staggered enough to make dodging them all difficult.

The ground beneath their feet twisted and morphed into a tangled carpet of stone serpents that bolted across the ground towards her targets.

"Pakura!" Chiyo retreated, her puppets vanishing in a burst of smoke marking their return to her scrolls. The Kunoichi silently appeared in front of the veteran Shinobi and threw her hands in front of her, two white spheres with a light red aura of blazing heat appearing in front of her palms. She turned her hands inward and joined them together. The two spheres fused and expanded into a shield against the attacks before Pakura thrust her hands forward, sending it towards the two Shinobi.

"Dammit." Anko cursed, her attacks failing as the water turned to mist, the stone broke under the heat, and the air only seemed to increase the power of Pakura's attack. She burned through the needed hand seals for her next technique with her clones mirroring her. "Stand b-"

Kakashi's hounds survived the attack. Lightning crackled off of several of them before it erupted outward as a devastating electric blast. The hounds that had been the center of each blast changed from lightning to water and howled, unleashing torrents of water from their jaws. Pakura's incoming attack shattered into a multitude of blazing spheres as she clenched her hands into fists, each sphere shooting through the hounds in an attempt to destroy them entirely. It failed. Another electric blast erupted from a hound and it suddenly became stone. It howled and dug its stone claws into the ground as jagged stones ripped through the air from its jaws.

Pakura noticed, the smaller spheres coming together into a single large sphere as she threw her hands out to her sides, splaying her fingers. Two more spheres formed from her palms and threw themselves forward and towards Kakashi's hounds. Two more electrical blasts erupted from the hounds as they shifted to a new element, more hounds of water suddenly present and unleashing a fresh torrent on Pakura's blazing hot spheres made of her famed Scorch Release.

'So this is what a battle between two geniuses looks like?' Anko could only look in with mute shock. The way that neither Pakura or Kakashi seemed surprised by the acts of the other, the way they countered each other seamlessly, and the sheer amount of Chakra both could produce somewhat terrified her. It was almost impossible to believe only two were fighting. 'I guess I'll go kill the old lady.'

Anko searched for Chiyo, spotted her behind Pakura as she unrolled a fresh scroll, and the Tokubetsu Jonin grinned. She rose her hands up to her mouth and bit down on both of her thumbs as the two clones on either side of her rushed around either side of the clash between Pakura and Kakashi.

Smoke shrouded her hands as she struck both against the ground before she dashed to the side before sprinting towards the older Kunoichi. A kunai slid down from her sleeves and into each of her hands and she threw both forward, the trio of explosive tags trailing behind both easily spotted by her experienced target. She couldn't do much to stop her attack from striking. Her clones attacked with a pair of jagged blades made from stone replacing most of their lower arms and hands. The elderly Kunoichi wasn't able to stop the four blades and her sudden attack all at once.

Anko had planned it as such after all.

'Time to die.' She couldn't help the smile on her face as she prepared the hand seal to detonate the explosive tags.

She didn't expect an expertly wielded blade to sever each blade from her clones, a great gale to knock aside her projectiles, and to have to avoid a pair of blade wielding puppets from cutting her down from behind by ducking low to the ground.

"It's such a shame I have to rescue you sister." Anko cursed when her eyes took in the sight of Ebizo, the second half of Sungakure's Honored Siblings, standing in front of Chiyo with an aged katana in his hands. She couldn't help the fear she felt at her odds, the two Shinobi in front of her renowned for their dangerous teamwork on the battlefield. They were legendary, few able to claim to have survived an encounter with both of them. Even fewer could claim actually beating the two.

The Fourth Hokage was among such a small list, the early period of the Third Shinobi World War a chaotic time where he emerged victorious against both Shinobi.

"As if I didn't have it handled." Chiyo twitched her finger, the two puppets that had attacked Anko drawing themselves back to her, a glance to their hands revealed that each finger had been replaced with long, slender, and no doubt poison coated blades. More blades jutted from the bodies of the puppets, no doubt the puppets could become deadly saws that would cut her to shreds. "That brat didn't stand a chance of killing me."

'I'm going to kill you.' Anko narrowed her eyes at the two, cautious for any movement from Chiyo as she readied her Chakra to attack her, now, two opponents. 'But I do not like my odds.'

Odds were not in her favor at all. She withheld the urge to sigh or glance behind her to see if Kakashi could lend any support to her. She figured he was busy dealing with a renowned Kunoichi like Pakura. She couldn't rely on him to help her anyway.

Her hands shifted to her side, her fingers wrapping around the hilt of the blade she had taken from Sasuke before his second round match with Temari.

'This isn't going to be easy.' Anko took a single short breath before she darted forward.

Her acquired blade immediately clashed with Ebizo's single katana, Anko catching sight of the seals that wrapped around it just in time to avoid the several kunai that erupted out of them. She dodged the poisoned weapons and replied with a trio of senbon the elderly Shinobi avoided with ease that surprised her. She pushed herself to press the attack when the two puppets she hadn't forgotten about attacked her, the clicking and clacking of their movements the only tell Anko had to avoid them. She ripped through the needed hand seals to unleashed a Fire Release technique when Ebizo pressed forward with his attack instead. She narrowly avoided a trio of slicing blades of air before she was forced to dodge a dozen shuriken and kunai released from hidden seals on the puppets she had been attacked by. Even then the attack was joined by Ebizo swinging his blade through the air, sending a trio of crescents of wind towards her once more. She avoided them by dropping into the ground before erupting outward and breathing out a stream of fire. Ebizo looked at it with almost contempt before his sword was a whirlwind around him.

He cut a pocket into her attack, one he leaped through and towards her. Wind Chakra ripped free of his form in a burst, causing her to curse as she was thrown back and through the air before she could even land on her own two feet from her emergence from the ground. Ebizo knew she was open to his next attack and so took a deep breath as he sent his sword spinning into the air. A puppet Chiyo had summoned snatched it out of the air and surged forward with it held directly in front of it. Anko drew a kunai to counter the old blade in the hands of the mechanical weapon just as Ebizo unleashed a vortex from his mouth.

She was trapped in it before she could counter, the puppet torn out of it by a deft tug from Chiyo, and the katana was handed back to Ebizo as the puppet was sealed away once again. Chiyo sent the two blade covered puppets forward instead and, just like Anko thought, they turned into deadly saws as Chakra caused sections of their bodies to begin to spin faster and faster. What Anko didn't think would happen was the fact that the blades would grow longer, that more would appear from hidden seals, and even more seals unleashed a torrent of kunai and shuriken into the vortex.

Each one of the weapons was covered in an abundance of poisons and the sheer varieties Chiyo was known for obviously. There was enough that the vortex actually began to take on a purple tinge from the sheer amount that it had ripped free from the weapon as they entered it. Ebizo remained where he stood, a pair of small humanoid puppets perching on his shoulders and erecting a shield of Chakra in front of him to keep him safe from any poisonous fallout.

Anko was torn back and forth by the roaring vortex, her blood soon joining the poison as she found it was impossible to avoid the countless weapons within the vortex. She narrowly avoided the multiple passes of the bladed puppets. She avoided being torn to shreds but she could already feel the dozens of poisons now burning through her veins, her body going through a multitude of reactions, and the pain ripping apart her mind.

She couldn't help but scream as she slammed into the ground, more poisoned weapons cutting into her as the vortex ended. She tried to rise but the two puppets crashed into her, their blades further tearing into her skin and two actually impaling her through the stomach.

"It looks like she's dead." Chiyo's voice came from far away.

"Rasa-san needs our help." Ebizo's voice came from close by.

"That young man, always coming to us with his problems. This generation is so reliant on its elders." They were leaving her to die here. They knew she would die here. "I remember a time when I could sleep all day."

"Those times are long gone brother."

"No…" She couldn't move, couldn't escape the growing pool of her own poisoned blood she had been left to lie in. She wanted to curse them, to kill them, but it was truly hopeless. She couldn't move, she knew she was going to die from the sheer number of her wounds, too many already severe enough to kill her on their own. All of them together sealed her fate, she would bleed to death in a minute at most. Chiyo's poisons only made sure of it. "Not yet…"

'Not without that bastard too…' Her once teacher came to mind, filled her with rage despite her state. Her hands balled into bloody fists. 'He needs to die before me…I have to stop him...'

Her eyes shut against her will, her rage could not keep them open. She couldn't keep herself alive with just her rage.

But it did awaken something else.

"Anko…" Kakashi avoided Pakura's scorching hot spheres coming from seemingly everywhere, at least a dozen of them keeping his elemental hounds occupied and a dozen pressuring him. He tried to throw a kunai to kill her but the dome she had used a handful of spheres to create melted the metal before it could even get close enough to harm her. The explosive tag was incinerated before it could detonate as well. The tag he attached to it activated through, a storm of senbon failing to pierce through her attack by attacking from multiple fronts.

'Her defense is automatic like the Jinchuriki's it looks like.' Kakashi dimly observed the fact. His single visible eye remained focused on Anko's dying form. 'I need to get to Anko still, get her som-'

His thoughts were interrupted when he narrowly avoided a trio of Scorch Release spheres coming at him in a pincer movement. He avoided them and avoiding the two spheres arching down on him from above. Two hounds of water threw themselves into the way of another two coming from behind him. His Lightning Cutter bearing hand lunged forward, a fresh pair of hounds of lightning darting forward and roaring, unleashing a stream of lightning bullets that tore through the Scorch Release spheres that tried to kill him. Pakura actually broke free of her sphere, running to the side to avoid the barrage. She formed the necessary hand signs and unleashed a gale of wind from her mouth that swiftly shifted into a number of widespread slicing crescents that dissipated Kakashi's lightning bullets as they tore through them.

'I almost forgot she can use Wind Release.' Kakashi almost wanted to curse himself as he dodged to the side, avoiding her attack and taking a short breath. He breathed out a stream of fire with a single hand sign, the flames quickly separating themselves into a number of fireballs. Quantity was his friend here. Pakura seemed to sneer at him before she breathed out a torrential stream of fire.

She blinded herself because of her pride.

Kakashi threw himself free of the ground beneath her, his Lightning Cutter plunging through her chest.

The Fire Release Clone erupted. It made the Lightning Release Clone he made from his Lightning Cutter follow suit.

The two Shinobi clashed with kunai in the middle of the air, Kakashi not letting how impressed he was at Pakura's planning show in what was exposed of his face. The fact she then countered the shuriken he pulled back on a wire string tied to his finger with her own received nothing as well. He threw a trio of kunai forward, expertly hid a number of senbon in their shadows, and Pakura countered them with a large shuriken she no doubt summoned to her hand, threw, and then engaged his kunai in the blink of an eye. He had used the time she had taken to replace himself with a clone of course, the clone using a smoke bomb moments later and broke away from the talented Sunagakure Kunoichi.

'She's good.' She didn't even pretend that he was still in front of her, a sphere punching through the clone's chest and dispelling it. It was a normal Shadow Clone and Pakura landed on the ground. She stared directly where he was hiding and the Copy-nin revealed himself.

"You're good." He admitted it out loud. He settled his hands in his pockets, took hold of a kunai in one hand as the other burned through one handed hand seals he had developed in his free time since seeing them put to use by Zabuza's apprentice in Waves.

"Better than you." The voice came from behind him. He turned to the side to avoid the white hot sphere she unleashed on him and unleashed a stream of water from his covered mouth. He drew in a deeper breath, shifted the arrangement of his fingers, and spewed out a stream of water that created a heavy mist around the two.

Pakura surged towards him through it, two spheres spiraling ahead of her to not only light her path through the mist but also to keep Kakashi from striking at her from ahead. He was already off to the side of her, a pair of kunai launching towards her head. She ducked to dodge them, correctly guessing that there was a wire string tied between them via the rings. Pakura severed the string based on principle with a shuriken sent racing through it before she made a finger gun towards Kakashi and his eye actually widened at the sight of such a gesture.

"Shakuton: Gian!" An orb didn't leave her finger. A superheated beam nearly punched through Kakashi's head at the blinding speed it fired off at. He barely managed to avoid it knowing exactly where it was coming and was still in the process of dodging the first when Pakura channeled her Scorch Release Chakra to her finger once more and smiled. "Shakuton: Gian!"

She fired a second beam and Kakashi vanished from sight, a log taking his place. He narrowly avoided it with the Substitution Technique and quickly he prepared himself to dodge again only for the Kunoichi to not press her attack.

'He seems to have remembered the last time we fought.' The two prodigies had clashed more than once on the battlefield, their youth and inexperience the only reason either had remained alive pass their first clash and the sheer talent and power of both making sure neither could take the life of the other in their other clashes. 'He's expecting them now.'

The way Kakashi held himself appeared to be in his normal lackadaisical way but her trained eyes saw how tense he was, how ready he was to avoid her attack.

'I thought I had him beat with this. I guess I only have myself to blame for this fight not being over. I telegraphed that attack too much. I should have left a clone to keep him busy and kill him with it from behind.' Despite how well the tactic would have worked, Pakura couldn't help the distaste she felt at it. She wanted to kill Kakashi Hatake at his best, the genius unable to counter her. Killing him with a surprise attack from behind while a clone kept him busy, while the most practical, would make her feel displeasure at her victory. She wanted him beaten by her power after all. If the best Shinobi of Konoha of their generation fell to the best Kunoichi of Sunagakure of the same generation, the prestige of Sunagakure would be clear for all to see. Not even Kakashi Hatake could compare to their greatest Shinobi. 'He would expect such an attack anyway. His Sharingan would let him see through any clone I make in the blink of an eye.'

"You still remember that technique Kakashi?" Pakura didn't lower her hands. She channeled Chakra for her next shot as she spoke to her foe. Kakashi and her both knew that she was only talking to keep him busy while she prepared her next shot.

"After seeing how well you used it the first time? How could I ever forget a technique that powerful?" Kakashi was ready for her. He was preparing his own counter to her it seemed.

"Shakuton: Gian!" She had lowered the time between her shots through training. A fresh beam lanced through the air before he had fully prepared his counter. He spewed out a jet of water towards the ground, throwing himself into a quickly forming pillar of water. He moved through the necessary hand seals and took a deep breath.

'I'm borrowing this from you Izumo.'

"Suiton: Mizuame Nabara!" He spewed out a stream of the sticky liquid, sweeping his head from side to side to spread it as much as he could His genius showed as he followed behind the wide stream with small bullets of the sticky liquid, accurately predicting where Pakura would throw herself into the air to avoid the attack.

As well as the multitude of Scorch Release Clones she released at the same time.

'What the?' The water wasn't evaporated as the Scorch Release Clones flashed to red and white, they were encased in shells of the liquid. 'How isn't it turning to mist?' Pakura avoided the bullet sent towards her before her danger senses screamed to her. She tilted her head forward and narrowly avoided the lethally sharp blade from the suddenly still mass of liquid behind her.

The pillar of water Kakashi stood on quickly threw itself forward as a pack of hounds as he connected his hand to it. Pakura didn't waste her time with playing a game with Kakashi as she dodged them, she drew up her hand once more and gathered the needed Chakra to it.

"Shakuton: Gian!" She once again unleashed her technique but swung the beam as she moved, making a deadly laser that turned the hounds of water to nothing but mist. Kakashi of course dropped into it, vanishing into the growing mist around her as she pointed her free hand palm down towards the sticky liquid below her.

"Shakuton: Kajosatsu!" A sphere of her fearsome Scorch Release fired down, spread out into a large disc to provide her a space to stand on without fear. It struck the syrup beneath her and was stopped.

'Again?' Pakura released a second sphere with far more force than was really needed, throwing herself up into the air and avoiding a trio of spikes from the syrup once more. 'His control over such a technique is also rather impressive. I've never seen him apply constant Shape Transformation to a technique like this one before. It would make sense if his Chakra leaned to a Water Nature but I know he has a Lightning Nature. Has he prepared this technique for me? Has he mastered Water Nature Chakra? How is he doing it?'

Kakashi landed on what remained on the pillar of water, a small jet that kept him above the syrup. Strands of water tied his hand to the water hounds as he plunged it into the top of the remaining water and the water surged down the strands, the hounds each letting loose a howl as they bulged. They grew in size, doubling in size before they erupted forward, leaving droplets of water in their wake as they sprinted across the still surface of the syrup.

"How are you managing this Kakashi?" Pakura drew up her free hand, formed a second finger gun. "Shakuton: Gian!"

Two beams lanced through the air as she crossed her arms over her chest, the beams lancing through the air behind her as well. Kakashi's hounds evaporated into nothing but mist, destroyed by the heat of her attack, and she drew her arms back around, crossing them over her chest, and unleashing the beams towards the masked Shinobi.

She cut his Water Release Clone into quarters with the X her attack cut through its chest. It collapsed into water, the pillar of water broke down, and revealed the second clone that had its arms severed from the syrup it had been manipulating.

'He used clones to manipulate the water and the syrup. Both were Water Release Clones and manipulated them both as if they were a part of them.' Pakura ended her technique, steam leaking from her fingers from the residual heat, and looked to the syrup that was quickly shrinking. 'He must be-'

"You're too predictable!" She threw herself onto Kakashi's arm, avoiding the Lightning Cutter he aimed to punch through her chest from behind. She pointed her free hand to him, her fingers taking on the shape of a finger gun once again and his single visible eye widened.

'She can still fire!' He tried to pull back, already knew he would be too slow to make it, and braced himself for the fatal attack. 'Her limit was six last time we fought.'

"Shakuton: Gi-WHAT THE HELL!" She recoiled, pushing off of his arm and avoiding the leaping snake that emerged from his Flak Jacket. Kakashi's eye even widened at the sight of the deadly serpent that drew itself back into his collar. He hadn't sensed it just as much as Pakura hadn't.

'Anko?' Kakashi looked to the bleeding Tokubetsu Jonin. He wouldn't hide or deny it, he was shocked at the level of skill she had. He had thought he had been aware of everything in the battle, forced to be to keep himself alive against a Kunoichi as skilled as Pakura, but he was clearly wrong. The snake settled behind his collar and, even though he had just seen it, he didn't know it was there by his senses. 'Anko.' Resolution entered his eye even as smoke drifted up from his collar, marking the disappearance of the snake.

He needed to repay Anko for saving his life.

He needed to save her life to make sure he could.

"I can't believe that snake was there the entire time." Pakura planted her hand on her hips, shaking her head from side to side in almost disappointment. "I should've expected something like that from a girl trained by a Sannin but even you look surprised."

"Anko's full of surprises like that." He desperately wished she would surprise him now, prove the bleeding form not too far away was nothing but a clone, a doll she had filled with fake blood, anything to show that she wasn't so close to death so close to him.

That she wouldn't be another death because he had failed. Again.

"I am too Hatake." Pakura's smile spoke of dark intentions. "You remember THAT technique, the one that turned our last battlefield into hell?" She was taunting him, crossing her arms over her chest. "You were so angry when I incinerated all of your friends."

She knew she struck a chord when his hands balled into fists at his side.

"Let me reintroduce you to that hell."

Pakura created a pair of Scorch Release Clones without any movement that threw themselves towards a suddenly sprinting Kakashi by the time she finished speaking. The Kunoichi rushed through the needed hand seals and dropped one hand to her side. Fires emerged from each of her fingertips on one hand before she made a fist. A fireball grew around her hand before she took a deep breath and drew her free hand up to her lips. She formed a tunnel with her fingers and blew out a stream of wind, fueling the flames in her hands to grow.

Kakashi didn't waste his time with the Scorch Release Clones, two Water Release Clones pouring out from his hands and simply tackling their targets into an explosion of mist. He was focused solely on the Kunoichi that aimed to turn the stadium, turn everyone inside it, into nothing but ash.

The preparations complete for her technique, Pakura let her hand fall from her mouth and unleash a crescent made up of her Scorch Release with her free hand. It grew as it hurtled through the air as Pakura drew her hand up above her head and channeled more Chakra to the inferno growing on her hand.

The amassed Scorch Release Chakra made even the user begin to sweat, made her own hand begin to dry out.

'This isn't good.' Kakashi had seen the technique before, just like he had seen her Scorch Release: False Darkness, so rushed through his next hand seals. He finished in the blink of an eye, three clones made of Lightning erupted forward from him as he threw a single kunai forward and followed after it in a dash. 'She's going to use THAT technique it looks like. She'll turn this place into hell with it if she can pull it off but Anko's a goner if I can't do anything for her.'

His eye shifted to Anko's soon to be corpse.

His eye moved to the thousands still in the stadium.

He only had enough time for one choice.

'I'm sorry Anko.'

His hands moved through the necessary hand signs, the Lightning Cutter shone with life as it erupted in not one but both hands. Bolts of electricity ripped free of the back of his three clones, connected to each of the concentrated spheres of Lightning Chakra in his hands with a multitude of bolts. His kunai was melted by the heat of Pakura's Chakra.

In the blink of an eye the trio of clones launched themselves forward at the speed of lightning.

In the blink of an eye Pakura created an aura of Scorch Release around her body. His clones were destroyed by a barrage of Scorch Release spheres.

In the blink of an eye Kakashi was before her with an identical swirling sphere of Chakra in each hand.

"RASENGAN!"

* * *

AN:...

Peace.


	46. Six Versus One?

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full Chapter Title: Six Versus One? Ambush on the Green Beast!

* * *

"No..." Horror filled the eyes of Maito Gai as he looked upon the village. Homes burned, corpses of friend and foe laid in the street, and the sounds of battle reached him where he stood.

Dozens of Suna Shinobi laid at his feet, some dead and some simply crippled. He had been lenient with some and unforgiving to others. Some had desired vengeance for the dead they had known as friends so he had let them survive this encounter. Some had simply attacked the Green Beast of Konohagakure and paid with their lives. It was the nature of the war they brought to the village he called home after all.

Vengeance was a thing that beget vengeance. He would restrain himself as much as he could to prevent such a cycle.

'Kakashi.' His eyes drifted to the stadium where his friend did battle in. 'Asuma. Kurenai.' The two would keep the other safe or die trying. He knew how much they cared for each other and knew they would gladly die for the other. They battled together in the streets. 'Hokage-sama.'

Even the Hokage did battle, trapped in a vortex of winds that had to be some Barrier Ninjutsu from Suna.

The Taijutsu master sighed before he leaped from the rooftops.

"Easy pickings." Far, far away from Maito Gai a six armed man drew back the string of his golden war bow. A golden arrow ripped through the air a moment later.

Gai snatched it out of the air. His eyes narrowed before a second and third arrow attempted to strike him from both sides. He avoided them and caught sight of the string tied to the end of both of them. It wasn't something he needed to touch to know it was something like spider silk. He landed on the rooftop he had been aiming for and broke the arrow in half with hardly a thought.

It was a thing supposed to be stronger than steel forged in the hottest of flames.

It was nothing when it was put up against be fearsome and legendary strength of the Jonin.

'This arrow...' Gai let the broken piece of the shaft fall from his hand as he opened it. 'I've heard about the man who uses them.'

The legends of a man with six arms wielding golden weapons couldn't be ignored by any Jonin after all. Especially when that man was a mercenary who made a living off of long distance assassinations of Shinobi and their clients. From Gai's memories he was one of many mercenaries that simply disappeared several years ago.

'I see where he disappeared to know.' Gai's eyes traced the path the first arrow, unaided by any tool to adjust it, must have flown. His eyes ended their search at a tower.

It was one of the many towers the Konohagakure Aviary maintained for the countless messenger birds that traveled to and from all villages, big and small.

'He hasn't changed his tactics.' Gai dashed forward and avoided the arrow sent to punch through his chest with almost contemptuous ease. He immediately saw the beginnings of a trap for him.

He decided to spring it.

He forced himself to ignore the danger signs all around him.

The deserted streets, Shinobi and civilians alike simply gone, the biggest one. It was almost painful to do so but he did it nonetheless. He would spring the trap.

He pushed himself forward and avoided the next trio of arrows fired at him at once. He avoided the next arrow that came for his eye. He avoided the arrow after that one that came for his shoulder. It was easy to dodge the arrow that aimed for his leg.

He continued forward in his dash and wasn't surprised when a figure leaped from the tower he had been heading for. He was mildly surprised when they seemed to run on the air but he quickly saw the truth.

The same strange spider silk was strung between multiple towers. That was what the former mercenary was running on.

'Ambush.' This was meant for him. Whoever was behind the attack had scouted him before the invasion and decided to attack him now.

He landed at the base of the tower regardless of its current vacancy and tracked the archer with his eyes.

"Kidomaru the Spider." Gai's voice was more than loud enough to reach the ears of a Shinobi. "You gave up your life for this invasion?"

"You must be crazy old man." The six armed man called down to him, laughed at him. "I crunched the numbers, I'm on the winning side here! This village is going to be nothing but a footnote in history by the time Lord Orochimaru is done with you!"

"So Orochimaru is behind this attack?" Gai shook his head as he brought his fist to his palm. "I'll be sure to deal with him after I kill you."

There would be no mercy for the man in front of him. Too many Shinobi of Konohagakure had fallen to him already. Gai would make sure he ended no more lives with his deadly arrows. He would die in the village he sought to destroy.

"Good luck with that." Kidomaru laughed at him as a new arrow shot down towards him.

His fist shattered it.

His eyes easily caught the mercenary's shock before it was gone.

'He has help.' Gai leaped onto the aviary tower Kidomaru had vacanted upon his approach. He didn't need to look around to know he was about to be attacked. Kidomaru was already running down another line of silk, his back to a Jonin like Gai was either asking to die or he had competent help.

A large fist was swung for Gai's head. He ducked under the blow and struck out with his own to the large attacker's chest.

"Jirobo the Mountain." Gai's comment earned a chuckle from the man who hadn't budged from a blow that would kill most other Shinobi. Gai avoided the attempt to grab him by jumping into the air.

A arrow was easy to use as a launching pad to gain more height from his jump as he drew a kunai to his hand. He dived back down towards the man beneath him when a third attacker made his presence known. He used Jirobo's large back as a springboard to meet Gai in the air. It was easy to dodge the telegraphed kick but Gai was unprepared when another foot emerged from the extended leg. He was powered off to the side and hit the roof of a building with enough force to break it. He was immediately out through a window and clung to the building using Chakra channeled to his feet. The arrow fired at him this time was snatched out of the air. It took only a glance to see there was no string attached to it so it couldn't be controlled any longer. In less time than it took most to blink, Gai spotted Kidomaru moving to the next spot he had chosen and flung the arrow towards the line of silk he traveled on.

Gai didn't get the chance to see if his attack was successful as Jirobo roared as he ripped up part of the street and threw rocks at him at lethal speeds. Gai took note of the number of improvised projectiles approaching him and crouched before he launched off the side of the building. He used them as stepping stones in the air to close the distance between himself and Jirobo. It was easy to strike the large man in his equally as large stomach and send him hurtling through the air and into a building. Gai dodged the third attacker as he attempted a blow and this time grabbed hold of the arm that emerged from the extended arm.

"Two Headed Sakon." Gai threw away the former mercenary and his eyes searched for the line of silk he had thrown an arrow towards. He was forced to dodge the returning Jirobo before he could find it. A crater formed in the street from the large man's impact and Gai struck out with a trio of blows.

A kick to the side. A blow to the stomach. And a kick underneath the chin.

Jirobo was airborne from the Jonin's monstrous strength. Gai moved to finish him when Sakon was suddenly in front of him.

A kick that felt more like three struck him and sent him hurtling back. Gai didn't let the pain show but his eyes narrowed as the grinning Sakon lowered his foot back to the ground. Jirobo landed on the ground and anger showed on his face as he rose back to his feet. His hands were plunged into the ground and Gai saw him lift a giant boulder above his head with a roar. The attack was only possible no doubt thanks to what had to be a rather strong Earth Release Chakra Nature.

Gai's accuracy was one of the best in the village, he had taught one of his students to be so precise after all. A trio of kunai with explosive tags struck the boulder and detonated. The three successive explosions succeeded in blowing the rock in half. Jirobo threw the halves forward regardless and the Jonin turned to the side to dodge them.

He darted forward a moment later. His rushed blow was dodged by Jirobo, an arrow came descending from above to punch through his neck, and Sakon was behind him. Gai noticed all three attacks as well as the fourth.

Something was traveling underneath the ground, something large.

He simply moved.

One moment he was in the middle of a clear pincer attack and the next he was on a nearby rooftop. A golden arrow was easy to knock out of the way with the back of his hand.

His eyes traveled across the ground, noted where the ground was disturbed at, and he was gone once again. He tracked it back to its source and saw a flash of red haired before a massive creature was in front of him.

A large fist tried to crush him, crater the ground and pulverize stone with his body, but it was easy to escape the blow. He followed up with a kick that sent his attacker crashing through more than a handful of buildings. His victory was short lived as an ally of the creature grabbed him from behind, locking him in a full Nelson at impressive speed to catch the Taijutsu Master by surprise. It was obvious this was an attempt to leave him open to a ranged attack and he was right. His eyes were tracking the arrow soaring towards him while it was still several blocks away. The added drill at the tip proved it would be more destructive than the regular arrows. He didn't waste time with attempting to break free any longer.

It was easy to take the beast holding him by surprise when he suddenly dropped to the ground. He did his best to get onto all fours before powering himself forward and up into the air. It worked to turn the beast into a shield that took the force of the arrow. He looked the strange beast in the eye before a single punch was all it took to power it away.

It struck the red head that was its master and Gai didn't have to worry about the last of the three attacking.

He landed on the ground and his eyes roved over the expansive battlefield. He saw none of his opponent but at the moment such a thing didn't matter.

It was clear they were regrouping. He would take the time to analyze the situation he found himself in.

'Two obvious close range fighters. One long range support fighter. One close range support fighter with three puppets. Against anyone else, they could almost easily overwhelm. Their attacks would eventually succeed if their opponent failed to keep track of them all. I can't take any unnecessary risks fighting a team like this regardless. They could have been testing me during their attacks. I can't hold back against them no matter what. The longer this fight drags on, the less stamina I'll have and the more effective they'll be as a unit. I can't afford to waste too much time here when there's the chance of an out of control Jinchuriki.'

Gai considered ending the fight with the Eight Gates, a technique to break his limits for a short time, but considered better of it.

The consequences would leave him out of the fight indefinitely as he recovered from such severe strain.

'I can't risk it. Better to save it for the Jinchuriki instead of this.' Gai, his decision made, jumped to the middle of the street.

He would simply draw them out for now.

One moved out to confront him.

"Demon Flute Tayuya." Her moniker was another of the many mercenaries that had vanished several years ago. He was no longer surprised to find her and people so similar to her under the same banner. "How many more of you has Orochimaru brought to die with him?"

She spoke no words. She lifted her flute to her lips and Gai moved. Jirobo intercepted his blow with an earth-laden fist larger than most men. His punch still shattered it and sent the large orange haired man flying. Sakon attacked from the side, Gai ducking under his punch. He grabbed the arm as he rose and turned the feared mercenary into a projectile to throw towards Tayuya before she could play her first notes. He didn't hear the flute break when he slammed into her but she couldn't play for the moment. He turned and snatched the arrow coming towards him from the air and threw it back a moment later. Kidomaru would be moving to reposition himself since one tower began to crumble from the force of Gai's return throw. He spotted the blur as he raced to his next destination. A trio of kunai flew forward, cut through the spider silk and forced Kidomaru to jump into the air to avoid certain death. A fourth Kunai struck him in the neck only to bounce off a golden covering. Gai turned in time to stop the twin blows from Jirobo and grabbed hold of the large Shinobi by his arms before throwing him away. He dodged the joint attack by Sakon and Tayuya, their adept Taijutsu easy to read to the master of the style. He jumped back in time to avoid Kidomaru's trio of arrows. They buried into the ground next to him, threw up a cloud of dirt. Gai heard the two fighters break away and retreat down the street.

He didn't pursue.

He closed his eyes, sight being useless for now, and relied on his sense of hearing, his sense of touch, and even his sense of smell.

'They're good.' He could give credit where credit was due. Not many Shinobi could work so well even if they were partners for life. The four Shinobi that he fought seemed to have developed impressive synchronization in a rather short amount of time. It was something to be impressed about. Especially when mercenaries were the ones that fought together so well.

Gai felt the sudden vibrations in the ground, heard the sound of palms striking the soil, and leapt away. He heard the ground open up like a greedy mouth trying to swallow him. He landed on an already collapsing building and used his arm to block the blow coming from one of Tayuya's creatures. It hurt to start the club but the pain was ignored in favor of snapping it in half. He made use of the severed upper half of the weapon to bat away the creature that was simply a torso charging him. It was surprisingly agile, landing feet first on a building and vanishing from sight for a moment. He ducked under its attempt to kick him and grabbed the creature's leg. He threw it forward and missed the chance to take out the creature in green. Jirobo made his appearance to the battle once more. Gai stepped back to avoid the swings of the broken club, the thrust of the strange claws one wore on its arms with bandages. He nearly blindsided the Taijutsu master before he was able to escape the mountain of a man as he slammed his fists into the ground with a roar.

Knowing he was a Earth Release user was the only reason Gai was remotely ready for the suddenly sprouting blades of earth erupting from the ground around him. He quickly leaped onto the side of one and ascended to the top. One of Tayuya's creatures, the one lacking arms, was waiting for him and it's head slammed into his stomach. Gai wasn't blinded by the pain, he was barely stunned as he was powered through one of the sharp pillars of earth. He slammed into the ground with the creature still on top of him before he managed to get his feet under it and power it back the way they had both came. The club wielding creature reappeared then and stabbed forward with the jagged end of its broken half of its formerly whole club. Gai knocked it aside with the back of his hand as he rose and powered the creature away and off to the side with a single kick. He didn't drop his guard and was right not to. The last of Tayuya's trio of creatures descended form above with its dual weapons aiming to pierce Gai. He avoided the sharp point at the end of both weapons and grabbed them by the shaft. His grip tightened the and the weapons shattered in his grip. He snatched the two spikes out of the air and powered them forward into the creature's chest. It was thrown away with a single punch.

Tayuya's melody continued.

Gai kept up the irregular flow of his Chakra to continually disrupt her attempts at any of her no doubt many audio Genjutsu. The trio of creatures were forming back up as she played, joining together to attack him again, when he decided to strike first.

He dodged the golden arrow that aimed to pierce through his eye, snatched it out of the air. He threw it forward like a spear, the arrow nearly log enough to be one, and watched it pierce through the bandaged creature as it charged forward once more. It dropped with the arrow ripping through the top of its head and out through its back. Gai grabbed hold of the bleeding creature and threw it into the air with a shout, sending it more than several blocks away. He vanished where he stood in a burst of speed to avoid Jirobo as he descended from above. Sakon threw a hail of shuriken towards him from three arms and Gai drew a kunai to deflect the majority of them all as fast as he could. A second arrow soared forward, punched through the building in front of him when he dodged it and made it crumple. Gai raced up the side of the building directly across of it and ran straight into Tayuya and her three returned creatures. Gai's foot had hardly touched the rooftop when he was dog piled by the three as Tayuya played her flute.

Gai rose with a shout, tossing the three creatures away as he aimed to take out Tayuya. A trio of arrows interrupted him, forced him to leap out of the way. A massive boulder thrown through the air towards him while airborne was difficult to avoid so he didn't. He landed on it and prepared to leap away when a large hand grabbed hold of him. The grinning form of Jirobo emerged from within the rock as it shattered and threw Gai torwards the ground. Sakon kicked him into a nearby shop before all the Shinobi put distance between themselves and the building.

It erupted when Kidomaru sent an arrow inside, struck the explosive placed there during a brief lull in the battle.

Gai burst through the smoke and straight into the large arm of the free clad creature, trapped in a bear hug the moment he was free of the smoke. It hold hardly take him a moment to free himself but the creature was covered in explosive tags already burning.

Gai kicked himself away, avoided the worst of the sudden blast with distance between himself and the creature.

It didn't mean he avoided damage.

He dropped to the ground before he could right himself, looked down and saw his burned legs.

'This fight just became more difficult.' He rose back to his feet, ignored the pain already trying to consume him. 'I can't fight after taking damage like that much longer.'

The weights hidden by his orange leg warmers remained in place, far too durable to be dislodged by a simple explosion. He reached down to them then, undid the clasp keeping them in place. He saw the trio of blurs approaching him.

He gladly tossed two of them his weights, saw Tayuya and Sakon immediately fold in on themselves before the weight powered them back and down the street. Jirobo's fist met his and Gai swiftly shifted to grab hold of his fist and began to crush it. Jirobo immediately made an attempt to pull away but his strength failed him. Gai's hold was far too strong to break.

"You should all know just how outmatched you are against me." Gai forced Jirobo to his knees, made the large mountain of a man grimace as his arm was forcefully bent back. "You should have known better than to join with Orochimaru."

Gai didn't dodge the arrow this time.

He pushed Jirobo into it.

"Dammit!" The Shinobi went limp in his hold for a moment, his eyes glanced to his destroyed shoulder where a golden arrow trembled with the force it was fired with. "I'm gonna smash you to pieces you piece of shit!"

Gai ignored him. He turned and threw Jirobo into the returning Sakon. Tayuya was stopped when he appeared behind her. She struggled for only a moment before she realized the futility of escaping his choke. She began to quickly hum instead and the world tried to shift on Gai.

He was in the process of disrupting his Chakra flow so it failed horrendously quickly.

He was in the process of crushing her throat when he saw his impromptu projectile be thrown off by Sakon where the two landed. He threw the already fading former mercenary towards Sakon when he tried to attack him again. Kidomaru's next trio of arrows failed to do anything to the Jonin as his eyes traced their path. He threw his own trio of projectiles in turn, one after the other in rapid succession.

The three struck simultaneously.

Three explosive kunai detonated at once.

Gai saw Kidomaru's burned form fall to the ground.

He breathed out. Calmed his racing heart and let his body relax if only slightly. Orochimaru's mercenaries were defeated. For now. He had time to leave this fight and lend his power to another fight, to lend his strength to the burning inferno that the Will of Fire had become with the fuel of a war so close to the home of of such a flame, the home of so many comrades now threatened with

He didn't know he wouldn't be leaving just yet.

"You damn bastard..." Sakon forced his body to rise. "You damn Leaf bastard...toying with us like this! Wasting my time with this weak shit when you got more power hidden away!"

Gai felt the power suddenly erupt around him, consume him in a vortex that made him almost sick. He nearly fell as the raw wrongness of the power surrounding him consumed his senses.

'Orochimaru...he corrupted such an energy? How? How could he even learn something like it? Who taught him?' Questions raced through Gai's mind just before a horned demon erupted towards him. Segmented black armor covered its entire body and it let out maniacal laughter as spiked fist drove themselves into Gai's stomach. He was thrown back but swiftly recovered, he held his stomach as his feet punched into the ground, pushed a mound back as he skidded back from the force of the blow.

"Impressive." Gai charged forward, blitzing the transformed Sakon and his fist struck the armor and an armored fist erupted from his chest, struck him away and into a pair of massive maroon arms.

He felt as if he was being crushed when whatever held him tightened its hold. Gai broke free with a shout as he turned while airborne and struck out with a kick that was blocked with a forearm. He took in the orange haired and maroon skinned figure he knew to be Jirobo before Sakon attacked from behind. He roared, unleashed a wave of pure Chakra and sent Gai reeling as the durable Jirobo stood firm. He crashed into a building and immediately landed on all fours. He sprang back out into battle and clashed with the two transformed mercenaries. They matched him blow for blow, Gai unable to break the combined defenses of either Sakon's demonic armor and multiple limbs or Jirobo's incredible new level of durability and raw strength. He was thrown across the street like a stone skipped across a pond, dragged along the ground until the mound his impact created drew him to a stop. He stumbled as he rose back to his feet and his eyes widened.

A golden arrow nearly took his head off if he didn't deflect it with a powerful blow off to the side. His eyes caught sight of the transformed Kidomaru next. His skin had turned dark red, his hair had turned grey, and spikes had sprouted from each of his elbows. He was grinning from his nest of webs between two buildings. A great golden war bow rested in two of his arms as a fresh arrow was created from a golden material spewed from his mouth. A third eye on top of his forehead was open and locked into Gai with an unnerving precision.

He hardly saw the next arrow.

Instinct saved him from certain death. Instincts honed from countless battles screamed at him to dodge, to jump away, and he did.

Slightly off, the arrow demolished the store off to the right. It's fall unleashed a cloud of dust that blanketed the street. Gai breathed slightly easier with the concealment before he heard the sounds of a flute.

His disrupted Chakra didn't save him this time, the sound was never designed to trap him this time.

It was as if a sonic blast struck him. It was probably the truth as he was sent hurtling back through the street. He was saved from deafness only because he had quickly clamped his Chakra laden hands over his ears, improvised ear plugs from his days on the battlefield. He slammed into another building and groaned as he rose, feeling as if his insides were liquified. His heart was beating faster and faster, his vision began to narrow, and he breathed in and out faster and faster.

'This isn't good.' Gai watched as his two opponents approached, another prepared another shot from his destructive bow, and another was hidden from his sight. Three shadows appearing above him showed that the monsters Tayuya had made use of were returned and their presence screamed of the same corrupted energy as the others. 'Whatever Orochimaru's done to them, I can't fight them like this anymore.'

'I may even have to use some of my Ninjutsu to win this...' Almost as quickly as the thought came to his mind, it was discarded as fire entered the eyes of Konoha's Green Beast. 'No. I swore to my student to use only Taijutsu to accomplish any task, to overcome any challenge, and to emerge victorious from any battle! If I was to break that promise, I would no longer have the honor of being his teacher!'

His foes approached, their dark power enshrouded them, and they clearly thought they had him defeated at last.

The past few moments had made them believe themselves superior to the strength of the Green Beast. They had pushed him on the back foot and thought he was at his limit.

He was far from them.

'I didn't want to have to use this but it seems all my other options have been eliminated after all.' Gai would have sighed if he could have wasted the air. It was more important to conserve all he could for what he would be doing.

He at last spotted Tayuya as she dropped down onto the street beneath Kidomaru, her head wrapped by white horns that formed a crown, her hair had grown much longer, and her skin had turned light brown.

'Yes. With all of them transformed, using this corrupted Senjutsu, I don't have a choice at all. It's come to that.'

There was nothing else to be done but one thing and that was to unleash the power of his greatest technique.

"I wish it didn't have to come to this." He crossed his arms in front of him, exhaled until his lungs were empty of air. "I can sense the Chakra building up in the stadium, I can tell what Orochimaru real plan is at last, and I can't let this drag on any longer."

"When the life of my comrades is on the line, when the ever burning flame of this village is threatened, and when a threat as great as the Jinchuriki is here I have no other choice!"

He breathed in.

He breathed out.

"The Eight Inner Gates."

* * *

AN:...This chapter was a pain to write. Never really understand how hard it is to write a Gai fight without showing him as unstoppable. This is definitely something I need to work on. Hope this satisfies.

Also, Orange Legion is once again uploaded with a decent number of new chapters. Hopefully they aren't terrible affronts to writing that should be purged from the world.

Hopefully.


	47. The Marks of Time!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter title: The Marks of Time!

* * *

Everything stilled for a moment. Pakura's eyes were wide open in shock. Kakashi's was narrowed with focus. The spiraling sphere of Chakra, the near legendary A-Rank Jutsu made famous by its creator the Fourth Hokage, in both his hands as he drove them towards the Sungakure Shinobi. Pakura's Scorch Release covered body made an attempt to stop the attack, destroy it with the power of such focused heat, but there was nothing to be done.

Nothingness consumed the two in that moment.

The Scorch Release Armor held firm against the force of the Rasengan.

A second Rasengan was too much for the armor.

Pakura's eyes then widened in horror.

Kakashi's single visible eye widened in pain.

His gloves were incinerated by the heat.

The bandages Pakura were around her waist were shredded by the force of the Rasengan.

Kakashi pushed forward, the diminished Rasengan in his left hand and the more powerful Rasengan in his right hand.

Pakura felt her skin begin to shred.

Kakashi felt his hands burn, the skin there blister and burst.

The Konohagakure Shinobi took a single step forward, drove his Rasengan forward.

Pakura was forced back.

Her Scorch Release Armor finally ruptured. The Scorch Release Chakra in her hand, rendered unstable when she lost her focus from the pain, followed suit.

Pakura threw her hand forward, found a new target for what was left.

A massive blast consumed her.

The Rasengan finally powered Pakura away with their remaining might.

Kakashi was thrown back, the blast not outright lethal but still far from weak. Even with Pakura's depleted reserves it was powerful.

Stillness engulfed their battlefield for several long moments.

A broken body shifted where it laid a moment later. Hate grew and made the broken body thrash to free itself.

"Hatake…" It was broken by the voice of the Kunoichi before she coughed up blood after the devastating technique sent her through the air, crashing through wall after wall as she was powered back and into the shell of tunnels and rooms behind the seating area. Her face contorted in agony when she moved, one of her hands coming to touch at the raw and shredded skin. The aura of her Scorch Release Chakra was gone, focused on her hand and she grit her teeth to keep herself from screaming at what she had to do.

She was forced to cauterize the worse of the wound with her remaining Chakra, her Scorch Release swiftly breaking down to simple Fire Release Chakra that broke down further until it was nothing but a dull blue haze around her hand. Her limited medical knowledge was used next, doing her best to repair the worst of the damage done to her by the attack. She forced herself to remain calm, count the seconds between inhaling and exhaling. She forced her panic away from the surface of her mind, beat it down so she could focus on healing herself.

'If I didn't have my Scorch Release Armor I would be dead right now.' She couldn't help but remember the clash of her Chakra against the might of two of the Fourth's legendary Rasengan. 'Most of the force behind both of them was wasted breaking through it. If I hadn't activated it in preparation…' She didn't want to think about what would have happened. She was already close to death despite her quick actions to heal herself and if she had actually taken both orbs of rotating Chakra without her armor, she wouldn't have to deal with the pain she was in now.

'This isn't over.' She could rise, the damage from the twin use of the Rasengan was more than enough to defeat other Shinobi but she refused to be like other Shinobi. 'I can't lose to him.' She only had one chance to end him. It was her only chance to finally finish what she had started during the Third Shinobi World War.

Her Chakra was put to use, Chakra Threads connecting to her arms and legs. She forced herself to move, force her broken body to jerk itself into the air. Her face twisted with the pain every movement brought her, the damage she was doing to what was already broken impossible to know.

'How the hell did she get so much stronger?' Kakashi collapsed to his knees across from her, his Flak Jacket was mostly destroyed by the explosive results of Pakura's Scorch Release Armor being broken. He was lucky he still had some of the tattered shreds of his shirt still covering his chest, the fishnet armor he wore beneath it all revealed. His mask was also still somehow in place, ripped and torn but still covering the majority of the lower half of his face.

They were near equals during their encounters during the Third Shinobi World War, before the alliance between Konohagakure and Sunagakure. They had clashed enough times that he knew the ins and outs of her Scorch Release techniques and she knew more than a fair share of his tactics, from his clones all the way to his Taijutsu. He had learned to counter her, she learned to counter him.

Their last clash during the war had left them both nearly dead.

'Have I gotten that weak?' The thought, even the mere idea of it, made him wince. Not from pain, from shame.

He could already see her forcing herself to move, her body jerking with unnatural stiffness and fluidity. She was both limp and stiff, her body seemingly confused on how to act after the beating it had taken from his twin Rasengan. She was using Sunagakure's technique no doubt, forcing her broken body up and keeping up the technique through sheer will. He briefly opened his covered eye and saw the blue strands of Chakra that forced her body to move, the source behind each erratic step forward.

'She's unbelievable…' Kakashi couldn't bring himself to move his burned and exhausted body. Even now, each of his breaths was a ragged thing. He could hardly fight down the urge to vocalize his pain, scream as his burned skin split and cracked, as his scorched hands involuntarily moved no matter how much he desired them to be still, and the bones he had no doubt broken when he had clashed his Rasengan to Pakura's formidable defense.

It didn't help she had decided to forsake her attack in the end and simply strike him with it on top of all of it.

'How can she even stand after I hit her with two Rasengan?' Kakashi tried to rise back to his feet, he gave an honest attempt, and nearly collapsed to the ground for his efforts. His body, broken by the explosive climax of the battle between himself and Pakura, did not want to do anything but fall. It was too much of a struggle than he would like to admit to stay on his knees. 'And…if she can get up, why can't I do the same?'

He made another attempt, pushed himself to ignore the pain, ignore whatever limits were in place like a certain Jonin he knew, and forced himself to put one foot under himself. He panted for breath even as Pakura once again stepped into the seating arena. Her body struck a seat but she ignored it as she jerked herself to the side, her unnatural steps carrying her forward as the dried out corpse sitting in it fell to the ground at her feet. Her eyes were only for Kakashi, seeing his attempts to rise and Scorch Release Chakra took hold of her hands.

Kakashi knew what was coming. He refused to die without putting up a fight.

His broken arm moved, threw a kunai hidden up the shredded remains of his sleeves towards the Kunoichi.

She didn't bother trying to dodge it. Her body twisted in a way that was definitely unnatural, was no doubt painful despite how flexible she no doubt was, and the kunai struck her in the arm. She hardly seemed to show pain, her fingers twitching to send her forward once more.

"Hatake…" Pakura growled his name as she forced her body forward. Her eyes didn't leave him even as the meager amounts of Chakra around her hands broke down, her focus shifted only to maintaining the Chakra Threads that were the only reason she was moving to finish the fight. "Hatake…"

Kakashi's abrupt movement, what may even become his last act, had made his body refuse any future command from him. He was lucky he could remain upright and not collapse. His broken arm made him wince but he did his best to ignore it, focus on the battle he still had to win.

His eye drifted to Anko.

'Anko.' He needed to save her. He still had at least some time.

At least he hoped he still had time.

"Hatake…" Pakura's puppet-like steps brought her closer and closer towards him, ignoring the pain she no doubt felt with the determination to kill the Jonin in front of her. One hand briefly went limp at her side before the Chakra Threads took hold once more. The fingers were made into a sloppy fist, bound there with a thread wrapping around her fist. Her blow was as telegraphed as it could be as her arm bent at the elbow and lifted awkwardly into the air at her shoulder.

Spars with Gai let him know exactly where she was going to punch him as her fist flew forward. His broken body didn't move to let him avoid the attack. He struck the ground, feeling blood in his mouth from Pakura's blow to his face. He forced himself to rise on his elbows, tried to force himself to get up to his feet, but it was useless.

The back of Pakura's extended fist struck him on the side of the face as she ripped it through the air, made the world shift as he was forced onto his back.

"You can't even get up, can you?" Her voice was hardly above a whisper, pain and exhaustion showing itself at last. When the world came back he saw that Pakura was above him, the indifference the two had somehow maintained throughout the fight gone from her eyes. She was angry at him. She wanted to hurt him. Pain filled her eyes as much as any anger. Pain and resolve to finish the mission.

Blood dyed his mask red as he coughed. He attempted to sit up, glare at her, but she knocked him back down to the ground with a stiff arm, her Chakra Threads forcing her body to nearly fold in half to accomplish such a thing.

"Where's that fight you once had Kakashi?" Pakura almost fell even as she spoke, forcing herself to regain her balance as her body jerked upright thanks to her Chakra threads. Her eyes locked with his sole eye and he knew she hated everything about him in that moment. It was clear even for him to see. "Where's that boy from the battlefield?"

"He left it." Kakashi was surprised he could still talk, surprised he wasn't dead yet. "You should have too."

"No one leaves a hell like that. No one!" Her hand shot out like a viper and she grabbed hold of him by the remains of his Flak Jacket, pulling him off the ground at least partially. A pair of Chakra Threads wrapped around him was the only reason he was still up and not on the ground again after the Kunoichi's grip failed her.

Her fist was drawn back. He knew exactly where it was going to land. Her blow sent his head to the side and more blood stained his mask. Her hand was jerked back into position, Kakashi struggled to turn his head enough to look at her.

'Huh…this almost fits.' Kakashi hardly felt Pakura's next strike, his exhausted body was beginning to go numb. He could hardly feel anything as his eyes nearly drifted close. The dull shock of the pain was the only thing that brought him back from the brink of unconsciousness.

'A Shinobi like me.' Pakura's blows would have normally hurt but they were nothing now, he hardly felt the warmth of the blood filling his mouth. He could hardly feel any of the blows but his body still reacted, still felt pain and the training of a Shinobi kept him from falling completely unconscious. 'Someone like me deserves to die like this.'

Pakura couldn't actually keep him up anymore, his already destroyed Flak Jacket tearing itself apart even more at the stress and letting him fall back onto his back. The Sunagakure Shinobi hardly seemed to be impeded, not allowing anything to stop her it seemed as her fist descended on Kakashi once more. She nearly fell with her target, her own body nearly just as exhausted as Kakashi's own.

'I should've seen this coming…should've known that this would happen…' He didn't know how the pain kept bringing him back, the pain he couldn't even feel anymore. 'I should've known I couldn't beat her…I couldn't beat her when I was at my best…I can't beat her now…I couldn't beat anyone like her now.'

"Do you want to know why I'm going to kill you Kakashi?" Pakura's voice was still hardly more than a whisper as she drew her fist back, grabbed hold of Kakashi by what remained of his Flak Jacket on his shoulder to hoist him up with a shaking grip. He could look into her eyes, see past the pain filling them, see the hate shining in them instead. "Do you?" She shook his broken body, tried to force him to do something beyond just sit there mute. He had stopped making any sound, lying limp as she beat the life out of him. "Answer me already Kakashi! Answer me you bastard!"

She shook him harder, Kakashi looking at her but didn't see her.

He saw too many faces, too many eyes with the same hatred. He saw her but didn't see her. Another time. Another place. Blood. Smoke. Screams. Scorched air. It was hot, too hot. The world was burning beneath them, the sky was crackling above. There was so much death. Too much death. And still they fought.

"You think you can win, beat a village as great as Sunagakure!" They clashed, ignoring the dead around them, ignoring everything but the other.

"A village like yours isn't worth anything." Both were too similar, too smart for their own good. His Sharingan let him read her movements and her mind was racing fast enough to counter his counters to her movements. Neither would win at this rate. Taijutsu wouldn't get them anywhere, wouldn't let them finish this fight. They both knew it, couldn't deny the skills of the other. But it was all they had left. It didn't matter if it wouldn't work, if they would never kill the other. All that mattered was to finish the fight.

All they could do was keep trying to kill each other before the other could kill them.

"Look at me Kakashi!" Pakura's sudden shout wrenched him back, forced him to look her in the face as she drew her fist back. Scorch Release Chakra ignited around her fist, the last blow imminent. "Look at me so you can die with an ounce of dignity!"

"Like it matters…" Kakashi finally spoke, his voice almost unrecognizable to him. It was more empty than it had ever been, not even war, not the loss of everything and everyone he loved time and time again, could do the same to him. "I thought you were smart Pakura…"

He didn't care anymore. It was impossible to care.

"If you really do destroy this village…if you really can kill everyone here…it won't change anything…" Kakashi didn't know why he was talking. He just knew he wanted to continue. "The same thing…the same exact thing you're doing to us now…will happen to your village. And the next village after that. And the next village. It never stops."

" _That's why you can't let something like this cloud your mind Kakashi. Vengeance, it just creates an endless cycle. One person takes vengeance on another, another person takes vengeance on another, and another person take vengeance on them. It just keeps happening. We as Shinobi let this horrible cycle continue. We let it consume us, let it cloud our minds, and we let hate spread everywhere we go. We feel pain and we do nothing but spread that pain to others. It's a damn shame to see the same thing that happened to my generation keep happening in the next. I don't know who was behind the attack on Konoha but I can make a good guess that this is the work of that vicious cycle."_

" _Everyone feels wronged by the world, feels as if the world owes them something, and when they don't get what they want they let hatred consume them. They let that hatred consume them until they can do nothing but act on it. With that hatred, they make terrible things happen. They make the world an even worse place, they make other people feel wronged, they make other people be filled by hate at the world. Those people then let that hate out and endlessly spread it. The world is consumed by endless hate and endless hate fuels vengeance."_

" _You feel that hatred now. I know you do. I lost my student, the man I thought would change the world for the better, to this cycle and I know your pain. I feel hate too Kakashi, I feel nothing but hatred towards the man behind the attack. I want to do nothing but take revenge, go to where he would call home and destroy it. I want to go out and find all those he cares for and take them from him just like he took so many I knew from the village. I buried too many friends to do anything but want to kill the man behind the attack."_

" _I want to take revenge but I also know what it'll cause."_

" _That man, the man who caused this attack, he is only another iteration of the same cycle of hatred that's been sending this world into conflict after conflict, making men, women, and children fight war after war, and be responsible for death after death. If all we do is spread this cycle, if all we do is know how to hate the people who have wronged us, than we can never escape it. We'll always be cursed to live this cycle, to see our friends live this cycle, to see our family live this cycle, and to see generation after generation throw their lives away thanks to it."_

" _Because of that cycle, because we've let it consume us all so much, the world is in a horrible place. Iwa hates Konoha. Konoha hates Iwa. Suna hates Kiri. Kiri hates Kumo. Kumo hates Suna. Kiri hates Iwa. Iwa hates Kumo. We're all simply trapped in a cycle and it never ends because we can't see past it, can't see past the blinding hate we all let fester inside us day after day. We're not a world ruled by Kage Kakashi, we're a world ruled by hate. We let hate rule us more than any rules of any village. Just look at what's been done in Kirigakure because of hate. People die more and more there because the cycle of hatred we've all lived with is driving them to madness at last. I've heard stories of parents killing their own children and then turning on each other, all out of hatred. If we're not careful we'll end up the same. Do you understand me, can you understand anything I'm saying Kakashi?"_

" _If you let this hatred you feel now consume you like everyone else in this world does, if you let that festering hate we all have inside us out, you'll become another piece in that vile machine Kakashi. Don't be another part of the cycle of hatred. Be a part of something that you can be proud to give to the future generations, work towards something that is harder to work at than hatred ever will be. Be a part of something that makes this world a better place."_

" _Be part of peace instead of hatred Kakashi."_

'Huh…it took nearly dying to figure it out in the end.' Kakashi would have smiled if his body could do anything like it at this point. 'I thought you were crazy that day Jiraiya, just some crazy old hermit having finally lost his mind, but you were right. You've been right this entire time. I can see the smoke, I can hear the sounds of battle, hear the screams of hate even so far away. Every Shinobi down there is fighting with hated. Everyone down there is just another part of the cycle of hatred. All we do is hate.'

"We're all trapped in an endless cycle Pakura…you…me…even the Kage…everyone who carries the name Shinobi is a part of the same cycle." He almost wanted to laugh. He didn't. His humor wasn't that black. "We're all trapped…"

Pakura didn't respond with words. Her eyes told him all he needed to know, let him know she felt nothing but hate for him in that moment. She wanted to do nothing but kill him and she would. Chakra flickered around her hand, her legs suddenly trembling, her grip was already slipping.

It truly was just sheer will keeping her on her feet now.

"Shakuton: Kajosatsu!" She poured nearly all her remaining Chakra into her last attack. Despite it all, despite the pain she was in, the broken state of her body after enduring Kakashi's last desperate attack, a mad smile spread across her face.

'This is it.' She couldn't help but smile despite her pain, her exhaustion. The success of her mission was so close at hand. This was the end for Kakashi Hatake. The Copy-nin would be dead by her hands.

Kakashi knew it was over. He let his eye close, felt the approach of the blistering heat, and let out what he knew to be his last breath.

'This is the end a failure deserves.'

* * *

AN:...Bye Kakashi.


	48. Her Curse is Unleashed!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full chapter title: Her Curse Is Unleashed! A Master's Cruel Legacy!

* * *

No one who called themselves Shinobi was a stranger to pain. All of them knew pain and knew how to handle it. Even so, Pakura couldn't stop her scream as she slammed into the ground. She had limits, however great they may be, of what she could take. Her body was too broken now to even consider rising. She didn't know if it was from the pain or the sheer frustration but she screamed.

Kakashi Hatake still lived.

She could no longer fight, could hardly move. She doubted she could even twitch her fingers without suffering absolute agony.

And now a monster stood in front of you.

"Damn you!" Pakura looked to where the last of her Scorch Release Chakra left her hand, nearly the last of her Chakra at this point after the taxing first aid she performed on herself. "What the hell are you!"

The gray skinned beast only growled at her. It was on all fours above Kakashi, clearly shielding the down Shinobi with not only its form but the strange and large webbed hands that emerged from its back. Pakura wanted to kill it but her Chakra was too little to make use of any techniques. Even staying awake now was proving almost too difficult. She felt her consciousness waver, barely managed to maintain it, and she groaned where she laid on the ground. It was impossible to deny the facts in front of her now.

She was defeated.

'What is that thing even?' A critical eye ran over the beast in front of her. If she could get out of this, escape this place, she needed to know what the creature in front of her was. 'Hatake summons hounds. Could it be some mutated mutt? No. He doesn't have the strength to do anything like that. He would've done so a long time ago if he could. There's no other Konoha Shinobi worth knowing about here. There's nothing in our records about a summon like that anyway.'

The beast growled at her and Pakura's eyes widened. It was preparing to attack. Dark Chakra flared around it, consumed it until the only thing Pakura could see were the beast's glowing yellow eyes, surrounded by dark hate filled abysses.

'It's going to kill me!' Pakura tried to move, to dodge the beast, but her body fiercely protested the very idea of movement. 'My body won't move anymore. I don't have the Chakra to create anymore threads. I'm nothing but a free target to that thing now!'

Pakura tried to force herself to move, force her legs to obey her, force her arms to do as she commanded, but it was all worthless. Her body was too broken, too exhausted, to move any longer. She was going to die. The beast was going to aim to kill, its claws would soon be covered by her blood after it tore her apart. She couldn't escape her fate now. She was doomed.

The beast's body tensed before it simply vanished from sight.

Pakura closed her eyes, steeled herself to die with at least some dignity. She would not whimper in fear, try to beg for a nonexistent aversion from her fate. She would die a proud Sunagakure Kunoichi and nothing else. She had done what she could to accomplish her duty, had at least wounded Kakashi and taken him out of the fight. He would die of his injuries just like she would die now. The invasion would succeed. The Hidden Leaf village would be crushed by the might of the Hidden Sand, destroyed through the unmatched brilliance of the Fourth Kazekage.

She could die almost happy with those thoughts.

"You foolish girl." Her salvation from death came with agony. Her body was violently pulled away from the stone she rested on, avoided death, but pain made her vision go white.

She almost screamed but withheld herself, stopped herself from thrashing, from sobbing at the absolute pain her body endured.

"C-Chiyo-sama..." A pair of Chakra Threads hung her in the air, attached to her back and made her sag forward. Pain was everything to her, consumed her in a abyss she couldn't escape any longer.

She nearly welcomed it.

The abyss would lead her to darkness, away from the eyes of the elder before her.

"Hush girl." Chiyo drew her closer, let her hang in front of her for now. Disappointment was a dim flame in her eyes. "You've failed your mission and can hardly stand by yourself. It's almost sad to see you bought so low."

"Hatake will not trouble our forces. He can no longer fight." Pakura bit down her anger at Chiyo's biting words. She knew the old woman in front of her would have failed to even match someone of Kakashi's caliber.

She was simply jealous of her power. Jealous of the power she could so easily call forth, the power to reshape the very battlefield.

"I should leave you here but Rasa-san has too much of a soft spot for you." Chiyo's words did finally bring a snarl from Pakura. The little Chakra she had left was enough to raise the temperature around the two to just uncomfortable levels. It could do little else and Chiyo knew. "You s-"

Her words were lost as she pulled back, threw Pakura behind her. The monster had seemingly stopped waiting and attacked them both. The ground Chiyo stood on erupted into a cloud of dust, stone pulverized in a single blow it seemed from the creature.

"You should stop taunting Pakura-kun so much sister." Ebizo ran a cloth over the old blade in his hand before sealing it away. "You nearly lost your life."

"Hmm. This creature is the girl who was Orochimaru's student, isn't it?" Chiyo unsealed a large hulking Puppet from a seal, four arms in total with large bulky fists that it brought together with a audible thud. "She must have awakened that power because she was dying. How pathetic."

The Puppet lunged forward just as the monster tensed. The two massive fists on its left side crashed into the ground, the monster already gone in the blink of an eye. Chiyo's eyes searched for the transformed Kunoichi and swiftly pulled the puppet back while it was joined by another much more slender one. Blades tore through the ragged black cloak that covered it's smaller form, scythes from its backs, slender blades erupting from its chest as if opening a artificial maw, rows of jagged blades spreading down each of its arms, and even its head was given a head of jagged spikes blades hanging on wires as if they were hair. A trio of cables tipped in barbed hooks emerged down the wrists of the larger puppet and both threw themselves forward at a twitch of Chiyo's fingers.

The beast didn't get far before a large fist struck her in the back, cratered the ground with the vicious impact. The second machine threw itself forward in a roll, scythes aiming to cleave through her as it spun. The beast was gone in the blink of an eye instead. The attack failed. A large fist sailed forward on a cable, senbon followed after it in a small storm. The smaller puppet took to the air in a blur of movement, swung down as the wooden fingers broke apart, razor sharp wire cascading down as its arms began to rotate. A deadly twister of wires descended on the beast as it reappeared on the ground.

It didn't stay still for long. The large webbed hands emerging from its back swung out, threw it into the air to the surprise of all those watching. A clawed hand grabbed hold of the puppet. No, the beast was too raw of mind to grab the puppet. It's hands ripped into the chest, tore it in half with a bestial roar. It threw the split halves to the ground as the large puppet was drawn before Chiyo.

Caution came to her eyes. Caution at exactly what she was fighting. It was no longer like the Shinobi she had fought before. It was nothing like any Shinobi she had fought before. It had become something else entirely.

A true monster.

Fear gripped hold of her heart, a ice cold shard that pushed its way into her heart, spread through her veins.

Terror.

It was terror consuming her.

"How...impressive." It was just as swiftly forced away. She was not one to let terror control her, to force her to surrender her body to it. She focused on what needed to be done and only it.

She needed to kill the beast before her. And it needed to be done now.

Her fingers twitched, drew the bulky puppet to surge forward as its cloak tore open. The large open cavity that was its chest was revealed as its two lower arms were thrown forward, extended by a hidden mechanism. The large hands interlocked and the cavity split open at a seam, opened like a giant maw. Blades began to move, saws began to spin, and Chakra flowed to a seal located at its core. The arms opened on the side, too many lines of Chakra to count forming a razor sharp net. The beast was trapped within as a powerful suction began.

Its webbed hands functioned as wings as they flapped, forced it into the air as it battled the powerful suction coming from the puppet before it. The beast snarled, roared, and the shockwave such a action released nearly threw Chiyo off her feet. She was lucky she could anchor herself with the puppet and her Chakra Threads. Speaking of the puppet, it dropped to the ground, it's talon like feet digging into the cracked stone beneath it to anchor it in place. From each of its shoulder came a trio of darts and cables, latching onto the ground around it as the seal burned bright with Chakra, as the suction increased. The beast still stayed in the air, battled against the suction with a mad frenzy that had Chiyo concerned.

There was a limit to the suction mechanism she didn't expect to have to account for. It took a fair amount of Chakra to power even with the efficient seal on the puppet. It would be difficult to maintain if the creature continued to battle her.

"You could lend a hand any time now Ebizo." She didn't turn to see where her brother was. He was assuredly standing nearby merely observing her progress. "Now is not the time to be lazy."

"I was just checking on Pakura-kun, Chiyo." His humored voice did not fit the grim expression crossing his face. "I see Orochimaru's Cursed Seal is quite powerful."

"Just help me kill her." The net of Chakra burned dimmer as Chiyo staggered where she stood. "I don't need to head you compliment the boy!"

Ebizo spoke no more. His sword was raised as he vanished from sight. He appeared silently on the extended arms of the puppet, his Chakra racing down the blade as he focused on his target.

A single swing unleashed a crescent of Chakra as thin as a lock of hair. It soared silently through the air, through the vacuum the creature battled against with its bastardized wings, and struck true.

His eyes widened when the creature hardly bled from the attack that should have sliced through its dark gray neck, decapitated the monster. He recovered in time to see the creature turn its black and yellow eyes to him, snarl at him, and then _scream._

"Ebizo!" Chiyo didn't hold back her shout as she saw what looked like a wave of Chakra and sound strike her brother. Blood didn't sprout from any wound as the elderly Shinobi slammed into the ground far away from her. He only came to a stop when he struck the railing.

So close to the raging sands hiding the Jinchuriki. The sands that were ravenous, thirsted for fresh blood always.

Chiyo ignored the fact that distance from the puppet weakened the technique. It was already failing as she moved away and to her brother. The puppet released its anchors, the cables disconnecting and the feet left behind, and surged forward as a second seal activated. It propelled it forward with a burst of wind from its back. It slammed into the beast as its extended arms retracted. It grabbed hold of it in a four armed bear hug, dragged the beast into the countless roaring blades within it. The beast roared as its response. It webbed claws wrapped around the puppet, talons at the end ripping into the puppet.

The beast's chest rose as it breathed in.

Chiyo was nearly deafened by the creature's next use of what had to be a weaponized scream.

It destroyed the puppet, obliterated it into splinters and chunks of wood. It flapped it's wings, sent the wood that clung to the talons at the end of what should be fingers away, and suddenly dropped to the ground.

Chiyo used her free hand to grab hold of Ebizo's no doubt broken form, bring him to her with as much gentleness she could with such haste. The creature growled behind her. She heard it breath in, prepare its next scream.

Cables wrapped around her neck, made the beast thrash when electricity suddenly rushed through its body. Chiyo ignored the few members of the Puppet Brigade she brought with her as she pulled Ebizo away.

"Keep it restrained!" She barked out a single order to those responsible, saw them already struggling as their puppets anchored themselves into the ground not unlike hers had did, talon like feet and a number of wires with hooks at the end gripping the ground. She saw two already healing Pakura.

The Kunoichi had fallen unconscious at last it seemed, unable to remain awake for the entire duration of her clash with the beast.

Chiyo considered her lucky. She wouldn't have to deal with the rest of the invasion.

"Ch-" The Shinobi was interrupted by the beast before them all.

A roar ripped free of the beast that they thought finally restrained. The webbed hands at its back were wreathed in dark Chakra, something so vile it made some sick, made their concentration waver. Cords that had been pulled taut suddenly grew slack and the beast showed its appreciation for its freedom.

It tore the limp puppets forward, shattered them with the bodies of the others. A number of scrolls were drawn, new mechanical warriors released, but it was too late.

The creature's webbed hands swung down, talons embedded in the stone ground beneath it, let its vile power run free. The dark Chakra that had previously wreathed its wings erupted from the ground.

"Fall back!" Chiyo leaped away, dragged Ebizo with her, and those that could followed after her.

One was not fast enough.

The wave of dark Chakra consumed him, made him scream as he was torn to the ground. Chiyo could only stare as the Shinobi died in front of her, snakes of the same vile Chakra ripping free of his body. They shot across the ground, vanished into whatever the Third Stage's proctor had become thanks to Orochimaru and his experimentation with power few could understand, power even fewer could make use of, and even fewer ever mastered.

'This girl...' The beast looked to her, stared at her with yellow eyes that held no shred of humanity anymore. It growled but did not pursue. It let them go.

It had what it wanted.

Such a thing left a sour taste in Chiyo's mouth.

She was a veteran of war, a woman renowned for her skills with poison and puppetry and put them to deadly effect, and was one of the greatest Shinobi Sunagakure could call upon for any tasks be it diplomatic or military. She had decades of experience on the girl that silently watched her flee. She was leagues above her in terms of power, in terms of experience, in terms of raw intelligence. She should be the one silently watching the girl free, run from her while she decided to spare her.

It should not be the opposite. She should not be the one forced to flee from a battle. It was ludicrous to think that she had to run, had no choice but to flee from a superior foe. It made no sense why she had to be the one to run from a girl who should be dead.

The beast silently watched her leave.

Chiyo swore to make it pay.

The beast growled before it turned away from the fleeing Shinobi, turned to where Kakashi still laid on the ground. He had fallen unconscious just like Pakura, left the conscious world for an unconscious one without pain.

Next to him stood Ibiki Morino.

"Anko...can you hear me?" The beast didn't lunge towards the scarred man. It did nothing but stare at him. He took it as a good sign to stay where he was.

He figured if she didn't want him here he would already be dead.

He had seen how she had handled Chiyo. Raw power overcame experience and whatever Anko has become she had plenty of power, enough to make Ibiki worry for her.

Power like it, Chakra that felt so dark, didn't come without some kind of price.

"I need you to listen Anko." She didn't come to him, didn't move from where she still stood. He figured he was still in the clear. She wasn't showing any outright hostility. "Can you do that for me?"

He received no answer. She didn't nod her head or grunt. She continued to just stand and stare at him.

"Anko." His voice was slightly more forceful. Only slightly.

He didn't flinch when the transformed Kunoichi was suddenly in front of him. He stared into yellow eyes and waited. Her fingers tensed, curled, and then settled at her side. Her eyes roved his face, searched for something. She didn't find it. Her head tilted to one side. Her long blue hair flowed over one shoulder, settled there after a moment of action from the sudden motion as she silently watched him. His body was completely still. Fear was absent from his eyes. He was trained to handle these types of situations, trained to show nothing but what he wanted to anyone unfortunate enough to be interrogated by him.

He counted her breathes. She wasn't preparing a scream. He counted it as a win, another small victory for him. He was fine with small victories over large ones. Small victories added up rather quickly. Large victories faded away in the end, weren't worth the cost some times. Small victories were calculated, large victories were often too spontaneous, too random. Interrogations were won by a series of small victories, a dozen small victories in a small room.

"Anko." His voice lost the added force. She did nothing but stare at him, wait for a reason to act again. "Can you hear me?"

He didn't get a verbal response.

A clawed hand settled on his chest. His body didn't tense, didn't flinch, at the suddenly contact. He had read it already. He was ready for it. She was curious about him. That was better than the alternative. Outright hostility would leave him dead.

Her fingers ran off to the side, away from his steadily beating heart, grabbed hold of the edge of his coat. She tugged on it. He waited. She tugged on it again. He leaned forward slightly, let her pull on it again.

It was clear now.

He moved back slowly.

She pulled slowly.

His arm slid out the far sleeve, let it fall off the other. The clawed wings withdrew into her back, vanished from sight as if they were never there at all.

Anko smiled as she put the coat on.

"Back with us I see?" Ibiki watched as she adjusted the coat, covered her exposed chest with it by closing it up to her bust.

He received only a look from the still transformed Kunoichi. He raised an eyebrow. She pointed to her throat. He nodded.

 _Hurt_

 _Yes_

He nodded.

 _Move_

 _Yes_

Their brief talk done, he bent down and grabbed hold of Kakashi.

A clawed hand settled over his wrist.

He didn't panic. Anko loosened her grip before she broke his wrist. He pulled his hand back. She picked up Kakashi.

"Can you change back?" It was time for Yes and No questions. Her arms being occupied meant she couldn't sign anymore.

She focused for a moment, he felt the Chakra suddenly surge around her. It was gone just as suddenly as it arrived. She shook her head a moment later, a frown making the corner of her darker lips sink.

"I was afraid of that." He didn't need an answer as he walked besides her. "After this is over, keep out of sight. Jiraiya-sama will know what to do about this most likely."

She nodded.

The two preceded forward.

'I hope he does.' Ibiki glanced to the once black and dormant seal burning with a purple light on Anko's neck. 'I don't know anyone else who can fix that seal.'

* * *

AN: This chapter was also somewhat annoying to write. Figured there had to be a decent payoff to Anko's Cursed Seal but also disliked the idea of having Pakura fight again after going to such length to show how much the fight had taken out of them both during the previous chapter. This in mind, I decided to bring back Chiyo and Ebizo as well as add in the Puppet Brigade. I also had some fun with Anko's Cursed Seal form, decided why not have it utterly unique as the first recorded successful instance of the Cursed Seal of Heaven. I also, strangely enough, had fun with having Chiyo make use of her puppets. I always figured she would have a decent sized collection and like to make use of it. Side note here, I normally enjoy writing anything with puppets in this story. No idea why.

Also, there was no way I would kill off Kakashi this early. He's far more useful with future plans I have.

Something to think on: How was Ibiki's approach to Anko? I wanted to make it unknown for him but also display some of the skill she has as an interrogator, someone able to read people and understand how to proceed. At the same time, I wanted there to be a definite point where Anko went from Not Anko to Anko. Probably didn't accomplish that but trying is (somewhat) just as good.


	49. Reinforcements?

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter title: Reinforcements?

* * *

"He is up ahead!" Lee truly did shoot down the hall then. Shikamaru didn't even bother with trying to keep up with him and Sakura made half the distance between the two before she seemed to realize the same and slowed down. He, Sakura, and Choji arrived just as Ino was let down from Lee's shoulder.

"Sasuke!" The Uchiha was sitting on the ground, one of his hands used to cover his eyes from their sight. His other hand rested on the ground in a fist. Rivets of blood ran down his fingers and struck the ground. He didn't look up at Ino's voice but his body tensed. "I'm actually happy to see you for once!"

"What?" Sasuke removed his hand from his eyes, unfocused eyes looking into Ino's bright blue. The red and black of the Sharingan took hold a moment later and he rose to his feet. "Ino?" He looked at her with a strange level of confusion, his mind for some reason unable to connect her presence in front of him and her voice. "What are you doing here?"

"There's no time for this Sasuke." Ino wobbled slightly where she stood, something Sasuke noticed. His eyes, the Dojutsu famed for its ability to predict every move of a foe, seemed to just take note of the fact that the platinum blonde no longer had her crutches from before. He only looked at her even as she spoke to him. "We need your help right now. The village is being invaded."

"I-What?" He shook his head, his eyes going unfocused once more as he at last seemed to compose himself. The famed eyes of the Uchiha Clan we're fully focused on Ino at last. "I see." He crossed his arms over his chest, briefly closed his eyes as he fell into thought. "You and your team will need to get out of here before things get any more dangerous than they probably already are. Three clan heirs without protection will be prime targets for any invaders. I can't have you going by yourself so give me a moment."

Sasuke opened his eyes and lifted a hand to his ear. He seemed to remember his lack of a helmet then and his free hand curled into a fist.

"Centurion Uzumaki of the First Cohort, this is the Legate, what has happened since Caesar battled Suna's mad dog."

"We almost believed you were dead for a moment Legate." A Centurion spoke to him with an almost chuckle. "The village's defenses are holding, Caesar's teacher reinforced the gates with powerful summons to deal with a number of snakes summoned by the attackers. Oto forces have so far been held in the reserve, Suna forces engaging Konoha's for the most part. Konoha's Sensor Division HQ is destroyed, an act of sabotage no doubt behind it, but the attack was inefficient. The Hokage moved much of the forces present in the village just prior to the attack, just before he departed to the Chunin Exams. Some areas have fallen completely under enemy control, outlying areas where the walls were breached by large summons, but the arena remains the most contested area. Beyond that, a team of Sunagakure ANBU attempted to kidnap Hinata Hyuga. The Praetorians assigned to her protection suffered casualties but they are moving her and Neji Hyuga across the rooftops even now as we speak. They will arrive to the tower soon, several of my additional centuries have moved to secure the outlying area of the district in preparation for their arrival."

"Is that all?" Sasuke searched his side with his free hand and seemed to finally remember he had lost his blade when anger crossed his face. It was quickly suppressed.

"No." The tone of the Centurion of the First Cohort suddenly shifted. Worry actually came to it. "The White Snake battles the Toad as we speak. That battle is one Caesar's great Legion will keep a distance from."

"I see." Sasuke understood the unspoken reasons. "What of Caesar, I must speak with him to better coordinate his glorious Orange Legion."

"You will have full authority over my magnificent Legion and I will contact you when I am ready to join the battle Legate. The Jinchuriki prepares himself and I shall do the same for now." Naruto's voice was unexpected but the Uchiha didn't allow any of his shock to leak into his voice. Besides, Sasuke could nearly hear his grin. "I look forward to seeing your performance in this battle without my guidance."

"I will show you how well your choice of Legate is Caesar." Sasuke shared the grin Naruto no doubt wore on his face. "I will crush these invaders and show them the power of your Legion."

"I will not let you have all the glory Legate nor will I take it all from you, I will await the Jinchuriki's attack. Once it begins, I and you shall face such power and put the mad beast down." Naruto's words brought an even bigger grin from Sasuke and the Uchiha had no doubt the Uzumaki's own grin had grown as well.

"I shall eagerly await such a thing Caesar." Sasuke brought his fist to his armored heart, let the sound of the strike reach the ears of Caesar. "You Legion will know only triumph! This I swear Caesar!"

"I expect nothing less but victory Legate." Naruto answered back, bringing his own fist to strike his armored heart. "Join me in glory."

"I shall Caesar." Sasuke dropped his hand to his side and removed his finger from his ear. He looked to his arm, the one bearing Caesar's seal, and chuckled. "I shall." His voice was quiet, almost a whisper.

"Um…Sasuke-kun?" Ino had stepped closer to him during his conversation and waved her hand in front of his face. His eyes snapped to her and were unreadable. "Are you done with…with whatever that was?"

"You still don't understand the power of Caesar's Legion." Sasuke shook his head as his eyes drifted to the company Ino had arrived with once more. "None of you do but you soon shall."

"Can you help us out here or not Sasuke? We're kind of on a time crunch thanks to this invasion, if you haven't already noticed." Shikamaru stepped forward, offering his shoulder to a still unsteady Ino. Dark eyes looked into the red and black of the Uchiha's famed Sharingan. "We need to get the people out of this stadium before anymore die."

"The people are still here? Why?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow in confusion at the words from the Nara. "What has kept any of them here? Is a barrier in place? Is the Jinchuriki trying to kill them all?"

"Were you asleep or something when all this happened? Some guy used a Genjutsu to put everyone here asleep. All the civilians that were inside the stadium are unconscious." Shikamaru's words brought nothing from the Uchiha, he had quickly schooled his features into showing nothing once more. He moved past the sudden information and withheld the urge to sigh.

"Your bleeding hearts won't let me leave them, will you?" Sasuke didn't need an answer. He turned away from them and lifted his arm out in front of him. In a burst of smoke, one of Naruto's centurion appeared in front of Sasuke. The only tell of his curiosity was the lifting of his eyebrow beneath his helmet.

"Legate." The centurion spoke the single word in greeting, his fist raised to his armored heart in the customary greeting.

"Gather your century and three others. Spread out and move the people from this stadium to a safe location, awake them there, and push them towards the shelters for the villagers." Sasuke spoke his order swiftly, the centurion not showing anything at it. He waited for Sasuke to continue but when he didn't he offered the salute of the Orange Legion once more.

"I and my legionnaires will begin the evacuation shortly." The centurion nodded to the Uchiha. "I will call more of Caesar's Fifth Cohort to my aid when the time comes Legate."

"See that it is done to the standards of Caesar's Legion Centurion of the Fifth." Sasuke dismissed the Centurion of the Fifth Cohort when he issued the salute of the Orange Legion once more. He turned away from him and towards the five Genin that had come to find him. "We need to leave."

A new blade appeared in his hand without another wasted moment, he looked at it with some annoyance before he placed it at his side. He began walking then, not waiting to see if the others followed him.

"Sasuke, wait a minute." Sakura's voice called out to him but he ignored it, he merely rose a hand and bid for the Genin to follow after him. "Sasuke!" Her voice was louder but he still ignored it, the centurion was remaining in the hall but would soon be departing for the stands. He had given instructions to his decanus and would summon his century in a few more minutes. "Sasuke!"

"I already told you all I would escort you to safety." Sasuke didn't stop as his voice carried back to the five Genin that still had not moved. "Talking while we walk is not impossible for you, right Sakura? Shall I summon some of Caesar's Legion to carry someone like you at my side?"

"…" He smiled at the silence his words brought.

"Let's just go with him." Shikamaru stopped the incoming argument with his compliance, walking to catch up with the Uchiha while Ino kept using his shoulder for support. "We need to get out of here anyway."

Two of them leaving made the other three follow the Uchiha's armored form. He didn't stop as he continued on his way.

"A Yamanaka heiress, a Nara heir, and an Akimichi heir all traveling in one group with two other Genin." Sasuke couldn't help but shake his head as he continued forward, all five Genin catching up to him. "This little group you've made is nearly too big a target without my presence among you."

"So what about with you then?" Ino was surprised when the Uchiha came to a stop.

He glanced to her and seemed to consider something.

"Your leg is going to slow us down." He stepped towards her, Shikamaru's shadow sharpening the moment he did so. Sasuke withheld the desire to roll his eyes as he came to a stop. "I'm going to help her Nara. From what Caesar spoke of your battle, you forfeited because you exhausted your Chakra." He locked eyes with the Nara. "I will carry Ino. You're likely to collapse and that will slow us down further. We cannot afford to be slowed down when the village is under siege by so many of these invaders."

"I can keep up, trust me." Shikamaru didn't look away from the Sharingan of the Uchiha. They both knew Sasuke wouldn't be using Genjutsu to win this argument.

"I don't." Sasuke grabbed hold of Ino beneath her arm, ignored her shout of surprise, and placed her on his back. "When we get out of the arena, I'll let you try to carry her again." The Uchiha moved without slowing down.

"…This is too much effort." Shikamaru followed after the Uchiha. Choji quickly moved to his side. The two long-time friends shared a single glance before they continued following the Uchiha.

They reached the steps that would take them down, traveled down them to the ground floor, they walked to the main entrance of the stadium for the Chunin Exams, and Sasuke at last came to a stop.

He gave a pointed look to Shikamaru and he came forward, helping Ino down from his back. He threw her arm over his shoulder and Ino narrowed her eyes at Sasuke.

"What are you planning?" Ino's question only made the Uchiha sigh. He crouched down to the ground and drove a number of kunai into the ground.

"You three need to get to the shelters." He pointed to a kunai that clearly marked their position on the ground. "I can move you through the worst of the fighting but I also need to head to where I am needed." He pointed to two different kunai. Shikamaru noted the kunai representing where he needed to be was by the deserted Uchiha district. "Luckily for you three, the Praetorians assigned to the Hyuga are moving them both as we speak. They didn't leave too soon ahead of us. I'll take you to them before I leave."

"And where are you going?" Ino seemed more than determined enough to get answers. Sasuke didn't answer them of course. He wanted to treat them as if they had never been asked.

"That's none of your concern. Once I take you to the Praetorians I expect you to listen to them and do as their leader says. I won't be there to tell him to keep most of you alive so don't push your luck. Especially some of you." Sakura's didn't wilt under Sasuke's stare. He chuckled at such a thing before he drew the kunai into his hands. "I'll take you as f-"

He was cut off when a senbon nearly pierced his neck. He moved in time to dodge it and was ready to fight when something strange happened all around them. A sudden vacuum tore him from his feet, pulled him away from the Genin standing with him. He quickly freed the cape from around his neck, the cloth nearly strangling him. He also used a pilum summoned to his hands and driven into the ground to arrest his movement.

A clanging reached his ears a moment later before what could only be described as a wall of sound struck him. He was punched through the walls and rolled across the grounds outside. He was quick to move his feet behind him, force himself to stop. He also correctly predicted what came next.

A senbon with a bell.

He severed the bell from the senbon with his own senbon.

"I see you three didn't learn your lesson from the last time you were here." Sasuke didn't rise from the crouch he had come to a stop it. His red and black eyes were focused on the three figures approaching him from within the stadium.

"You're not the guy I want to kill but you're the next best thing Uchiha." Zaku Abumi hadn't changed much since his defeat by Naruto in the preliminaries a month ago. He had traded in his past attire for the dark gray top and camo pants of most Oto Shinobi in addition to a black flak jacket. The only thing of note was the increased number of tubes emerging from his palms, two for each now. "Get ready to be a damn punching bag until I kill you."

"You'll get him after me." Kin Tsuchi was dressed the exact same as last time minus the inclusion of a black flak jacket like Zaku. Something Sasuke made note of were the strange objects on her wrists. They looked like bulky bracelets, a trio of boxes resting on top of each of her wrists. "I get to torture him for as long as I want first."

"Both of you focus on the mission." Dosu Kinuta was the most changed. His second arm was gone, replaced by another Resonating Echo Speaker. He was dressed identically to Zaku, forgoing the clothing he had worn in the Chunin Exams. "We've been assigned to capture this boy for Orochimaru-sama."

"Too bad he'll die before that!" Zaku threw one hand forward and Sasuke saw the Chakra channeled to his arm immediately change. A mark located in one of the tubes in that arm burned with a very familiar Chakra to the Uchiha. "Let's roast him!"

Zaku no longer just fired pressurized air from the tubes in his arms. He seemed to have upgraded to flamethrowers judging by the the torrent of fires that raced towards the Uchiha.

Sasuke immediately threw himself out of the way of flames too hot and too great for him to match and caught sight of Zaku's mad grin before his view was obstructed by a dark vest.

Dosu was in front of him in a surprising display of speed. He brought his arms together with a roar as Chakra raced through both.

"Resonance Blade!"

Sasuke was lucky for his armor. A blade of sound was the only way to describe the force that struck him. He was lucky it seemed to be more physical than anything else as he was thrown back with a large crack in his armor. The only reason he wasn't dead was because of the craftsmanship of the armor he wore.

He recovered enough in midair to avoid the second Resonance Blade Dosu unleashed on him. He heard Zaku call out his technique as he unleashed a wave of pressurized air forward and threw an explosive tag laden kunai towards him. The force of the blast dispersed the approaching wall of air. Sasuke landed on the ground a moment later and the shield vanished. A blade and a pilum were in his hands instead.

"Impressive tricks." Sasuke was talking to Zaku and Dosu as the two moved on either side of him but his eyes stayed focused on Kin. "I wonder what you can do now."

"I'll be happy to show you." Kin lifted both her wrists and Sasuke's Sharingan saw the Chakra she channeled to one of what seemed to be many seals within.

Tenten would be proud at the hundreds of senbon that surged through the air from the six boxes.

The Uchiha wasn't as appreciative since they could very easily kill him. He threw the pilum forward as Chakra completely enshrouded it. It erupted and the blast it produced threw most of the projectiles away. The rest he dodged as he channeled Chakra to the blade in his hand before slashing.

A blade of Chakra ripped through the air only for Dosu to step forward.

"Sonic Barrier!" He brought his arms in as if he was gripping the very air, his hands meeting in the middle. He tore them back and Chakra flooded through the twin Resonating Echo Drills he now wielded.

Waves seemed to ripple through the air, laced with Chakra, and the Uchiha's Sharingan saw his attack effortlessly stopped before the barrier was gone. He quickly recovered and charged forward as he focused the necessary Chakra for his clan's signature technique.

"Kat-" He was interrupted when ringing filled his ears. The Genjutsu was brief but it shattered his concentration and his Chakra was wasted before he could even make use of it.

"You still want to challenge an Uchiha with Genjutsu?" Sasuke came to a stop as he looked to Kin with almost disbelief. "Don't you remember what happened last time you thought you could match the Sharingan?"

"Resonance Drill!" Dosu threw both arms forward from his side and two drills of sound upturned the ground as they fired forward.

Sasuke avoided the impact but his balance was shot long enough for Zaku to grab hold of one arm with his other hand and level it at the unbalanced Uchiha. He saw Chakra flood the arm with his Sharingan and then a wall of air hit him.

And then another.

And another.

And another.

And another.

And another.

By the end, he was slammed through the side of a building and had to rip himself free from the walls inside. He struck the ground on a knee and the crack in his armor had spread. He was about to move when Dosu fired a much larger than average Resonance Drill into what had to be a store and tore it down around him.

Zaku assisted him when he once again made use of his newly installed flamethrowers to set the rubble on fire.

Sasuke broke free of the burning rubble before the fires could reach his armored form and breathed out a dozen fireballs. He was simply sending them scattering with it as he landed on the ground and let the blade he had summoned vanish from his hands.

Zaku unleashed another torrent of fire as Dosu released what had to be a dozen of his Resonance Blades as he slammed his arms together. Each were sent through the flames and were wreathed in fire as they soared towards Sasuke. He avoided the visible blades and ran straight into a storm of senbon from Kin. A shield was on each arm as he slammed them into the ground in front of him. The senbon clattered to the ground as they failed to pierce the shields in front of the Uchiha. He prepared the seals hidden at his wrist before he dashed off to the side. He unleashed a barrage of shuriken and kunai on Kin to keep her from attacking. He leaped over Zaku as he charged towards him with his palms raised and avoided what would have been a fatal amount of force in his latest attack. The Uchiha landed behind the Oto Genin and a pilum appeared in his hands.

Chakra surged down the length of it in the moment it took him to draw it back.

"Resonance Hammer!" A blunt burst of sound threw him off his feet, sent him crashing into the glass of the arena's entrance.

He broke through it and rolled to a stop in front of the group of Genin.

"Need a little help?" Shikamaru asked the obvious question as Sasuke panted on the ground and was clearly in pain.

The glare the Uchiha shot the Nara for his answer was nearly murderous. He forced himself to get back on his feet and a pilum appeared in one hand followed by a new blade in the other.

"I do not need help." He threw himself forward and back into battle.

* * *

AN: Honest opinion? This chapter could be better. Far better. Couldn't get it there. I enjoyed introducing the Sound Three again through. Figured upgrading them would also be fun (and fit with Orochimaru's idea of enhancing Shinobi) so decided to go with it. And Sasuke at last returns to the story. It was fun having him thrown through buildings. Anyway, I figured this was it for this chapter. I don't want to elaborate on the fight any longer as its served its purpose. I did what I wanted with the Legion as well.

The Genin? I could have done better. May do better later.


	50. A Caesar Never Waits!

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

AN: Chapter Title: A Caesar Never Waits!

* * *

"This is quite the sight." Naruto walked ahead of his security. He took in the sights, the sounds, and even sampled the slight taste of the war that waged in the streets. "No, it's wrong to speak of this with such simple words, such demeaning words. This is glorious."

A smile spread across his face as he observed the chaos around him, as he saw death take so many from the mortal coil, and saw the village at last bear its fangs for all to see.

Konoha was strong and the invasion would prove such a thing. His Legion would prove the absolute superiority of the village, the absolute truth of power. The invasion would serve to show all that he could declare their right to dominance over any and all lands.

"Caesar, it is not safe for you here. We should return to the tower." His Praetorians worried for no reason. Nothing could dream of harming him any longer.

The Kyubi's Chakra was impressive in its sheer potency. He could hardly be harmed anymore with it his and his alone to command.

"The Jinchuriki is nearly ready." Naruto's grin was wide as he continued down the road barren of all other life, continued to head towards the battle that would cement his supremacy and the might of his Legion to all. No one would deny his power once he defeated the Ichibi while others cowered in fear. "My moment of triumph will not be taken from me because of some misguided fear."

He could not stop now. No one would stop when they were so close to such glory.

"The stadium is highly contested Caesar, allow me to proceed forward and secure you passage to your destiny." The Praetorian would have fallen to a knee before Naruto if he had stopped.

The Caesar of the Orange Legion did not consider it in the slightest.

"Tell me my most loyal of soldiers: What is the life of a cretin who does not bathe his blade in the blood of his foes? What is the insect that does not stand with those who swear their very lives to his glorious dream? How pathetic is one who avoids the glory of battle? Who is one who denies the joys of slaying his foes with his soldiers? How may I call myself Caesar of my magnificent Legion, of my glorious Uzumaki Empire if I do not stand with it, fight with it, kill with it?" Naruto's eyes focused on the stadium ahead. He focused on the towering vortex of deadly winds that concealed the Kazekage and Hokage from the sight of even the most capable sensors. He focused on the power that he could feel from the clash of the two even so far away. "If the Hokage battles such a foe as the Kazekage alone, I shall battle the Ichibi and any who dare seek to deny my passage. Any who stand before me will stand before death before the sun sets on this day!"

Red eyes appeared in the blink of an eye, his blade was drawn from his side and bathed the world in an azure glow of power.

"I will not be denied what is rightfully mine."

The Praetorians did not hesitate to draw their own blades, to stride forward and stand with one who denied the very idea of letting others fight to protect him from battle. How could they not stand with one as impressive as that? How could they not share the desire of such a glorious Caesar as Naruto Uzumaki?

"Allow us to fight at your side then Caesar!" The Praetorians clashed their blades to their shields, announced to all that they thristed for battle, for glory. "Allow us to claim glory for your Legion!"

"How can I call myself Caesar if I do not allow ones so loyal to fight with me!" Naruto turned to them, his grin wide and his eyes shining in delight at the sight before him. "Who am I to deny you the right of all who serve in my glorious Orange Legion!"

"HOO!" Their blades clashed against their shields with a cry for battle, a cry for glory, and a cry for blood on their blades.

"Then it is time we march on my Legion!" Naruto proceeded forward and his Praetorians followed after him.

Whatever misgivings they had towards risking the life of their Caesar were gone. Their great Caesar desired battle, desired to see his enemies fall before his might, and even deigned to share such a great thing with those swore to fight for him, to die for him.

How could they ask for a greater man to call Caesar than Naruto Uzumaki?

"Caesar!" The voice that was their own came from above. Praetorians turned to it, saw a host of their brothers descending from above to meet with them.

The centurion at the head fell to a knee and brought his fist to his armored heart before his Caesar. Two more Praetorians descended with him, one carrying Hinata Hyuga and the other carrying Neji Hyuga on their backs. Both brought one clenched fist over their armored hearts before their Caesar.

"Naruto..." Hinata was the only Hyuga conscious as Caesar's opponent remained unconscious from the still distasteful conclusion of their battle in the first round.

"Ah, Hinata." Naruto strode forward as more Praetorians descended from the rooftops and each saluted him with their fists over their armored hearts. He bid the centurion before him to rise as he walked past him. "I'm glad to see my men have protected you as I instructed. To know you have come to no harm thanks to their might shows me the strength of my foes is nothing compared to mine."

He reached her, one armored hand reached out to her blushing face and gently took hold of it.

"Wait for me when this is over with Hinata. I will need you by my side later." He released her flushed face as he smiled at her. "Do not fight while my men stand, they will gladly give their lives for yours. I have instructed them to accept no harm to you or my opponent in your cousin. I must still fight him after all and I refuse to have my victory tarnished again."

'So easy...' Naruto observed how nearly blind Hinata was to him. She saw him the same way he once saw the girl he had tried so hard to impress with his new force, his new power. 'Love makes a fool out of us all I suppose. It is far too blinding, too distracting. It could even blind me after all, blind me to what that trickster wanted from me all along.'

He wouldn't be made a fool by such a thing ever again. Never again. He would harden his heart against lust and never let it rule him. Hinata was seemingly lost to it.

Being lost to such a thing made sure she would be useful to him. Such blind devotion to him was almost a thing to be commended, would have been if she had the impressive strength of her cousin, strength worthy of joining his Legion. She was strong but nowhere near strong enough to bear his name, to carry his banner into battle after battle. There was still a way for him to make use of her of course, fight another war with her unquestioned aid to his conquest. Until such a time came where his business in the village was done, he would make use of her. The Hyuga, while their practices annoyed him and had sullied his and Neji's battle, would be useful. Their resources were undoubtedly vast.

They nearly equaled his own after all. To nearly double his already substantial resources would make his plans much easier to execute.

A grand Armada for his empire did not build itself after all. The great Legion of his magnificent Empire was not without cost. To keep the lands he claimed as his own in prosperity was not done out of nothing but goodwill from others. Food, material, pay, and so much more had to be managed as his Empire took hold of everything the land needed for the moment.

Everything cost something. To not have to worry for his supplies, even less than he already did with Gato's truly massive resources his own to do with as he pleased, would make his plans progress for swifter.

Reconstruction of such a grand kind as he required took a great deal of time and a great deal of resources after all. Adding more resources on top of the rather substantial amount he already devoted to his project would only further cut the time down and allow him to have more of his force available to him far sooner than he originally planned.

"Naruto..." She did not hide her adoration of him in her voice. "What are you going to do?"

The question surprised him.

What would he do?

Deploy his forces across the village, aid in the slaughter of those foolish enough to invade?

Allow the village that had spurred him time and time again to battle without his aid?

Face the mad dog that was Sunagakure's powerful Jinchuriki?

He grinned.

"A Caesar does what he wishes Hinata. Never forget that." He bid the Praetorians that carried the two Hyuga to leave his sight.

They did.

"Stop them!" Numerous Sunagakure Shinobi had at last caught up with the group of Praetorians after they had come to a halt.

A number of Praetorians were suddenly thrown into the air, blood pouring from a dozen massive wounds that appeared within seconds. More joined into impromptu ranks with those closest to them, forming barriers with Chakra laden shields to stop the attacks. They worked only so well against the pure cutting power of Wind Chakra. Deep gouged were carved into some, others shields were completely cut through and those that held them were lacerated just as their brothers in arms.

"They've at last managed to catch up to us it seems!" The centurion saw nearly a dozen of his Praetorians lacerated by blades of wind and Chakra surged down the blade in his hand, burned around the metal of his shield. "Form r-"

"No." Naruto's red eyes shined with malice as he strode forward. "I've been waiting for these cretins to strike from the shadows ever since you arrived."

Naruto did not draw his blade from his side as his Chakra began to flare, began to consume him in a crimson fire. The dozen masked ANBU that stood in his way backed up.

The Chakra of the Kyubi, no matter the amount, inspired terror in all.

It was a thing that spoke only of death, of imminent destruction. It was a harbinger of death, a herald of the end.

"You cowards retreat already." Naruto's voice carried his disgust as he continued forward, the Chakra that was now his and his alone consuming him in its crimson glow. "I'm not surprised a disgusting hovel like Sunagakure is home to such Shinobi."

He saw rage spark at his words.

He grinned.

The first to charge forward was the first to die.

A pair of Praetorians appeared at his side, thrust their Chakra laden pilum forward and into the masked Shinobi's stomach. Their tenacity was one that allowed them to hardly slow down, follow through on their swing that aimed to cut his head from his shoulders. A third stopped the Wind Chakra covered blade with his own Chakra wreathed blade.

"Did you think you could simply attack one like me?" Naruto didn't hesitate to throw his head back and laugh at the very idea. "Do you know nothing of who I am? The lands I claim as my own? The forces I command?"

Rage so quickly replaced any humor he found in the situation. His attacker was propelled away, two gaping holes tearing through his body from the surge of Chakra sent down each pilum impaling him.

Three Praetorians became a hundred very quickly as his red eyes were consumed by fury.

"Your insolence in attacking me, impeding the path of a Caesar and his glory, of his destiny, is one that deserves nothing but death!" He lifted a single arm up, sneered at those that thought they stood a match for his mighty Legion.

Puppets began to fly forward, blades of winds released from blades, massive walls and twisters of wind released by large fans, and more were launched towards him.

"Deliver my judgement my Legion!"

He swung his arm down.

"HOO!"

In his battle with Neji, he had made use of his blade to unleash walls of azure Chakra. The force he sent with them was nothing compared to what he could truly do. His true fury was that which could crush houses, topple the strongest of gates, and make the strongest of walls tremble as they turned to dust.

His Praetorians unleashed a fraction of such strength.

An azure wall of blades ripped down the street, a second wall followed behind it, insured there was no escape from it, and a third and a fourth wall of blades followed behind the second. The azure walls of blades spoke of only death, spoke of only destruction, and were a mere sample of the strength of his glorious Legion.

The ANBU, unprepared for such a display, were torn to bloody chunks by the lethal layers of bladed walls.

The sight made Naruto grin.

The azure blades dissipated as all Chakra did once free of the body and without a constant source. The world was, for however briefly, tinted blue with the might of his Legion. His crimson cloak burned through it as he stepped forward once more.

"Continue on your way centurion. I will continue on mine."

"Of course Caesar!" The centurion quickly turned to those that remained. "Continue forward! Our Caesar walks his own path and we will walk ours!"

"HOO!" The Praetorians each saluted the centurion before they jumped back to the rooftops and began moving once more.

Not far away from the approaching Caesar, the Legate of his Legion clashed his newest blade against the pair of kunai held in the hands of one of his opponents. He didn't have the time to push Kin away with his superior strength before a hammer of sound slammed into his side. He was sent skidding across the ground but he managed to latch onto it with Chakra surging to his feet, stopping him from tumbling end over end. The Legate didn't waste time as he threw himself forward in a dash, a trio of kunai flying towards Dosu. He batted them away with one of his gauntlet covered arms. They exploded the moment he did and Sasuke immediately regretted his choice.

The explosion only made the next Resonance Hammer throw him back further. Dosu even got the chance to throw a few more at the same power, bring down the next building he had been thrown into.

'This is embarrassing.' The Uchiha groaned as he dug himself out of the rubble around him once more. Blood leaked from a dozen wounds and he was sure more than a few bones had at least fractured.

If nothing was broken he would consider himself one extremely lucky Shinobi.

'How did they get this much stronger?' There was no explanation for the rapid, unbelievable improvement the three Sound Genin had undergone from the last time he had seen them. He had known they had been modified by whoever was in charge of the village but he didn't know the procedure was capable of this much. There was no other way the three could gain enough power to push him like they were, force him into a corner tighter and tighter. 'How?'

"This is almost starting to get boring Uchiha!" Zaku laughed, the two other Sound Genin joining him with their own chuckles at his current plight. He hated them. They thought he was defeated and now they were mocking him.

He wanted to kill them more than anything else now.

'This will be hard. Not impossible but definitely hard.' Sasuke closed his eyes, ignored the pain of breathing as he took in a number of deep breaths before exhaling, emptying his lungs of air before filling them once again. He was forcing himself to calm down, to evaluate the situation.

'These three work well together, more like a single machine than any individuals. They've been a unit for a long time, too long to try and disrupt them. They've been assigned to, for whatever reason, to take me alive so they haven't tried to outright kill me. They're also drunk on power. They've been tossing around overpowered Jutsu ever since this little battle began and they don't show any signs of Chakra exhaustion from their use either.' He exhaled as he drew himself fully out of the rubble.

Red and black eyes snapped open.

"That's enough of your talking and enough of this ridiculous game." The Legate of the Orange Legion lifted his arm up, splayed out his fingers to encompass his three foes, and curled his hand into a fist. "From this moment on, you three won't land another blow on me."

"Big talk coming from the guy we've been beating ever since this thing started." Zaku was already stepping forward and Sasuke shook his head.

"I don't need to observe you three anymore. I don't need to worry about any new tricks from you dogs." He lowered his arm and sneered at the approaching Zaku. "You're still the same dog Caesar showed his place in the preliminaries, that girl is still a fool to think she can challenge an Uchiha to Genjutsu, and the last one is too unimportant for me to even bother with remembering."

"You…I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Zaku threw both arms forward, Sasuke saw the Chakra gathering there and smirked.

He threw a senbon forward with eerie precision.

It flew straight and true, struck the tube in Zaku's left arm.

The explosive tag painstakingly wrapped around it exploded.

The cry Zaku made as his arm was blown open was music to the Uchiha's ears.

"The tubes in your arms were an obvious weakness." Sasuke was already in front of the crippled Genin, grabbing hold of his single usable arm and breaking it. The second cry was mere icing on the cake after the beating he had been forced to endure to understand how the tubes worked. "I've seen your Chakra flow down the same path every time you sued your abilities, made it easy to discover where to break the tube at to bring a stop to it." The break had been clean and had offered the chance for the Uchiha to split the tube running down the Sound Genin's arm in half. He used his hold on his arm to force the bloody Genin to the ground before popping the already broken arm out of place.

He didn't need to but adding to the pain of his enemy was well worth it. He didn't need to stomp on his skull but he did that as well.

They were many simpler ways to kill but few as satisfying to the Legate at the moment.

Dosu was charging behind him, he could hear the air whistling through the Resonating Echo Speaker his second attacker wore. The Uchiha ducked underneath the swing, knew the sudden nausea was coming so simply spewed out a point blank fireball.

It didn't matter if he couldn't stand and couldn't see clearly. He didn't need to know how to balance to spew the fire out.

The material of the Flak Jacket the Sound Genin wore was the only reason he wasn't immolated by the Uchiha's flames. He was still severely burned. Sasuke recovered in time to see the dual Resonating Echo Speakers his opponent made use of. Two swords came to his hands and he sliced down.

He didn't strike metal. He struck flesh.

Dosu screamed when his hands were rather brutally amputated.

Sasuke silenced him by shoving both blades into his chest. He quieted almost immediately as the Uchiha kicked the now corpse away.

The senbon sailing through the air struck his armored helmet.

He chuckled as he turned to the last of his living foes, Zaku and Dosu were both former foes and now simply corpses. He stepped towards Kin and relished the fear in her eyes.

"You fools never cease to amaze me." Smoke spilled from his mouth as the Kunoichi backed away, her eyes widening in horror as his blood soaked figure was suddenly in front of her.

He ignored her strikes to him, ignored the crippling blows to other Shinobi. He grabbed hold of her, lifted her into the air by her neck with both hands. He was grinning as he squeezed, as he tightened his hold on her and further cut off her air supply. Smoke turned to flames the more she struggled, the head in front of her grew and grew as it became unbearable. He opened his mouth and flesh burned away.

"Die."

Hellfire emerged from his throat.

She screamed as the flames took hold.

"Impressive Legate." Naruto examined the three unconscious opponents of the Legate of his Legion on the ground in front of him, laughing at their horror stricken expressions. "I should have known you wouldn't waste your time with these dogs, not sully your blade with their blood."

"I always aim to please Caesar." Sasuke was at his side and brought a fist to his armored heart, focused on continuing the illusion he had trapped the three in when he had finished crafting it. It was tricky to place three different individuals in three different illusions but they built off of each other. A few roles changed but all of them ended in immolation. "I decided I had entertained them enough in the end. They actually believed themselves capable of defeating the Legate of your magnificent Legion after all. Such foolishness had to be destroyed."

"Indeed it had." Naruto glanced around the bloody plaza he had come to.

His Praetorians had joined the bloodshed taking place around him with a battle cry, slayed enough of the enemy to send them running. Now the Konoha Shinobi that had fought a bitter battle for control of the stadium and its surrounding area were approaching him. His personal Praetorians encircled him and the Legate now. Their shields were raised and swords at the ready, searching for any remaining foes foolish enough to think themselves worthy of striking their Caesar.

"You have done well here." Naruto stepped away from the three unconscious Shinobi that had been trapped in a nightmare, wordlessly signaled for each to be grabbed by a pair of his Praetorians each and taken away. He would deal with them later. "After this invasion is over, I'm sure they will be willing to tell us how they acquired the strength you seemed to struggle against."

"I hardly struggled against such foes Caesar." Sasuke answered a bit too quickly. Naruto merely stared at him. It was an unnerving thing, one that spoke of easily revealed deceit, near pity at such a poor attempt to trick him, and the low burning rage the very idea brought.

Sasuke took a half step away.

"I observed your struggles Legate. The buildings you were thrown into may make a better leader for my Legion if you couldn't best these mutts of Otogakure sooner than this." Naruto continued on his way as his eyes turned away from the Uchiha, his Praetorians broke their sudden circle and followed after him in a pair of columns. "You will accompany me to the Jinchuriki and I will show you how to fight these dogs properly." A grin very quickly came to his face, his red eyes beginning to shine with some dark excitement. "You must have a far harsher hand to teach them obedience."

"Of course Caesar." Sasuke didn't rush to catch up but he wasn't slow. He moved with a fair amount of haste to walk next to the Caesar of the Uzumaki Empire.

"I hope you haven't disappointed me Legate, I've been told you've been waylaid here for so long my forces have still not graced the invaders with their blades. To deny my Legion the glory it so rightly deserves in battle and slaughter is something I hope you have a good excuse for."

"My foes were troublesome Caesar. I needed to not only defeat them but I also required time to supervise the evacuation of the stadium. When presented with such a chance for those who call this village home to see your power, I saw fit to oversee it."

The two had stepped inside when Naruto grabbed hold of Sasuke. Red eyes that were aglow with crimson Chakra spoke on only fury, fangs he had concealed were bared to the world, and his rage burned around him as a crimson flame.

"You would dare to waste the time of my Legion with saving pests?" His voice was a growl, his rage refusing to give him the chance to speak. "You would dare to waste my might when glory lies before me? When glory as great as today lies before my Legion?"

"I meant no disrespect Caesar." Sasuke didn't struggle, he merely held onto the arm lifting him into the air.

With his other he offered the salute of the Orange Legion.

"I will lead your Legion into battle now if you command it Caesar."

Naruto suddenly grinned.

Sasuke's feet touched the ground again.

"Standing by your decision is admirable Legate." Naruto laid a hand on his shoulder, any evidence of his rage gone, his red eyes had dimmed and his fangs were one. The crimson fires that had spoken of his wrath and wreathed his form were nothing but dissipating wisps in the air. "I had thought you would be one cowed by my mere displeasure but it seems I was wrong."

"Take a knee Sasuke." His voice was a whisper, was not for anyone but the two of them. The Uchiha rose an eyebrow at the curious command but did so. "Remove your helmet and relinquish your arms."

"Of course Caesar." The sword that was not his was sheathed, the covered weapon removed from his person and laid on the ground next to him. His shield came next, the shield that wasn't his fell from his arm and struck the ground with a crash like thunder. Both hands rose to his head and removed his helmet. It was placed before him.

Naruto's Praetorians surrounded the two and each fell to a knee, their arms gone as each saluted their Caesar and their Legate.

"I stripped of you many things in Nami no Kuni, the first land that I can claim to belong to my glorious Uzumaki Empire, claimed by my magnificent Legion under your new command." A single Praetorians stepped forward as Naruto spoke, stood at his side as he looked upon his Legate. "The Praefectus Castrorum before you has watched you while I trained with the one known as the Toad Sage. I have watched you partake in battle in the Chunin Exams and I have been impressed. You amused me when I deemed it fit, you fought foes without mercy and without your very blade when forced to, and you showed loyalty to my Legion when my enemies finally revealed themselves from the shadows. All of these are admirable qualities in the Legate of my Orange Legion."

"Your training of my Praetorians is another thing to commend Legate. You trained my personal warriors into something greater, forged my personal sword and shield of the Legion into a refined blade free of the few imperfections I saw amongst them. And you stand above such a flawless blade even now."

Naruto held out his hand.

The hilt of a blade was pressed to it.

"This blade was forged during this month of training Legate, a blade I thought I would not hold for perhaps years, a blade you would not see in such time until I deemed you fit to look upon it, know of its existence. You did not fail me in Nami no Kuni but you showed something I knew had to be harvested. You were stripped of your rank's privileges because I knew it to be a way to forge you into a true power among my Legion and I was right. You are now more than worthy of wielding this new blade."

Wordlessly, the Caesar fell to a knee, stabbed the blade into the ground.

He held up his arm.

A shield was placed on it.

The Praetorian stepped away, fell back to his place in the circle, and fell to a knee as he offered the salute of the Orange Legion to his Caesar and his Legate.

"This shield was designed as your personal weapon just as the blade you see before you Legate. Just as your blade was made to strike down all foes, this shield is made to repel all those that would stand against you in battle. This shield was commissioned the same day as your blade, forged in the same flames, and cast from the same metals. This shield and this sword will be yours as of today."

The sword was pulled free from the ground and hidden away behind the shield.

Naruto presented both to the Legate of his Legion.

"For your helm, there was no need to forge another." Naruto took hold of the helm placed on the ground. He examined it and crushed the replacement. Sasuke's eyes widened before Naruto held up his hand and the helmet stolen by Anko appeared in his hands in a burst of smoke. "It was merely required to present it to you again. Once this battle is over with, have your replacement arms destroyed. Any blade you wield will be the one that was born of the same fire as this shield, in shield you bear upon your arm shall be the shield born of the same fire as your blade. These will be your weapons, these will be your tools anytime you set foot upon a battlefield, and these arms will be proof of your authority over the Orange Legion and you rank within my Uzumaki Empire. Upon your head will rest the helm I present to you now. No others shall have the right to be worn into battle by my Legate. All of those that see you shall remember your arms, shall remember your armor, for they are one of a kind."

Naruto held the helmet up, his eyes examined it. He took note of the scratches, of the marks that showed it was not a piece of ceremony. It was a thing worn into battle, a thing that spoke of trial and triumph. It was a piece of his Legion's history in a sense.

He turned his eyes away from the helmet as he let it fall in the grasp of one hand and focused on his Legate once more.

"As of today, you are once again the Legate of my Legion. You command all Legionnaires who fall under my Legions, you command all Praetorians who swear their loyalty to my Legion, and you control all of the many vast assets of my magnificent Legion. Where you go, you will carry my name. Where you go, a personal force of Praetorians will follow. Where you go, I will leave command of my Legion to you. If you command, my Legionnaires are to take their very lives. Be they simple Legionnaires to Centurions, all will follow your commands. Your voice will be my voice, your will shall become my will, your failures and successes will be my own. All shall be done in my name, the name of my Legion, and the name of my Empire."

Naruto rose his fist and placed it over his armored heart. Sasuke mirrored him as his fist was brought over his armored heart.

"Rise Legate Sasuke Uchiha and command my Legion." Naruto offered him the helmet he still held and the Uchiha gladly took it.

Both rose to their feet.

Without a word, the two shook hands, their hands bearing the seals grabbing holder of the other's armored arm. Power pulsed from Naruto's hand, rushed through the seal Sasuke's arm was marked with, and awoke it at last. It burned beneath his armor the same way Naruto's began to shine. Red light leaked from beneath his armor, spread from what it did not cover on the underside of his arm, and the Uchiha felt his body become invigorated with strength.

Naruto had at last awakened the true power of the seal he wore on his arm.

"I won't fail you Naruto." His voice was just as quiet as Naruto's had been. The blonde grinned as he laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about that Sasuke." His smile turned into something else, a promise that went unspoken. "Death will be all that awaits such failure."

* * *

AN: Probably could have done this chapter better. Wanted to reinstate his full authority and this was the best chance I saw. Will probably never like it but it needed to be done to progress. I knew I wanted it somewhere during the invasion but my original plan was pretty much ruined the more I continued and kept thinking about it. This works for the future of the story anyway.

Side note: I hope this chapter flushed out Naruto a bit. Hopefully explained the reason behind some of his actions, particularly towards Sakura. And to hennessyswagg83 (if you read ANs): Fear not for your desire to not see a Naruto and Hinata pairing. That will not be the pairing. Likely won't be any with Naruto. I'll need a good reason to bother with writing one and I currently don't have one and neither do I likely have the skill.

Also Sasuke's Genjutsu use: It was, admittedly, a cop out to end the fight but works. He trained the Praetorians of the Legion to resist Genjutsu after all. Using it that much was bound to increase his skills with crafting illusions. He was already good by the preliminaries. He simply had time to grow and ample opportunity to use it to make his skills good enough to trap three different people in nightmare illusions.

He's no Itachi with his whole point and trap in Genjutsu thing but he's not terrible. The Sharingan certainly helps.


	51. Kage vs Kage

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter title: Kage vs. Kage

* * *

"You are stronger than I thought." Rasa still had not discarded the ceremonial robes he wore to attend the Chunin Exams. His stationary oriented fighting style didn't require such garments to be removed. His dark ringed eyes focused on the Hokage across from him, the hat and robes of his position long since tossed away in the initial stages of their battle. "I thought you would die rather quickly, Saurtobi. It's clear now that I was wrong."

Around him laid the dead ANBU that were his guard.

He had returned the favor and slaughtered those the Hokage trusted to guard him.

Only the two Kage remained in the swirling vortex of winds.

"Your Barrier Ninjutsu is impressive as I figured it would be Rasa." A lull in the fighting had been reached, his Gold Dust rolled around him like a wave and the Hokage prepared his Chakra for his next attack. Once the battle began again, it would be furious and swift. The Daimyo remained safely enclosed within Rasa's Gold Dust. He wanted witnesses to his conquest of Konohagakure. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you are such a capable Shinobi, you are the leader of a village of geniuses after all."

"For the man regarded as the Kami no Shinobi to speak such words to me, I am honored." The Kazekage gave a short bow, one filled with mocking more than anything else. "I once thought those old eyes of yours couldn't recognize talent anymore, some blind fool leading the blind of this village was a fitting thought until now I suppose. You clearly can see your superiors when they're right in front of you."

Gold Dust lanced through the ground beneath Sarutobi's feet, the Earth Release Clone he had left there showing its true appearance at its destruction. It erupted forward as bullets of mud, fireballs from elsewhere igniting them as they soared forward. Rasa didn't move as his Gold Dust surged forward, consumed the ignited balls of mud in a crushing wave. He didn't move as a tendril of Gold Dust rose around him, swiped through the air and unleashed razor sharp strands of Gold Dust as thin as a wire. He wasn't surprised when no blood sprouted from such a wide spread attack, he focused his eyes on the ceiling and saw Sarutobi merely crouching there.

A single shuriken flew from each hand down towards the young Kazekage.

Two became hundreds in the blink of an eye, each as lethally sharp as the other.

"If I was a boy I would be afraid." Rasa allowed Gold Dust to swirl around him, rapidly rise in the air, and then unleash itself as a multitude of shuriken. Each of the deadly tools was countered, each tossed aside by the imitations made from the Kazekage's versatile Gold Dust. "I'm disappointed in you already old man."

The Gold Dust continued through the air, spinning towards the Hokage as they began to draw together, combine, and form into massive shuriken made of Gold Dust. A simple stone wall rose in front of the upside down Shinobi and stopped them before they could reach him. He formed the necessary hand signs to spew out a torrent of water that made Rasa's dark ringed eyes narrow.

"Trying to slow down my Gold Dust? Worthless." The Kazekage would have laughed at such a tactic. To think he wouldn't practice extensively with his Gold Dust weighed down by water was truly childish. He even trained against the pull of other Magnet Release users on the versatile Gold Dust. There was nothing one could try against his Gold Dust he hadn't already thought of and planned against.

Fuse it with heat? He would tear it into deadly shard.

Disperse it with winds? It would be simple to pull it back or simply produce more.

Take control of it, however outlandish the very idea was? It had taken five of the most formidable Magnet Release users to pry it from his control.

Unleash the One Tailed? Whenever it lost control, the Kazekage was the one to defeat the mad beast.

Try everything one could think of at once? It was only a slightly greater challenge to manipulate his Gold Dust. It was still maneuverable enough to rip kunai from the air, jam the joints of a puppet, and silently wrap around an opponent's throat.

Nothing could triumph over him. No thing or one could match his power. No one would threaten Sunagakure with his brilliance leading the village.

The powers of the two Kage clashed. The might of the Third Hokage against the might of the Fourth Kazekage.

Hiruzen pulled away from the clash, the stone gauntlets covering both hands breaking down while he was still in the air. Gold Dust coiled around Rasa like a snake, waited to strike out and end the life of the Hokage.

"I hope you're ready to die old man." Rasa was nearly gleefulnas he clapped his hands together, drawing them apart as Gold Dust engulfed him in an outpouring wave. "I'll make sure your precious village follows in death so you won't be alone for long." He fired bullets made of Gold Dust everywhere in an omnidirectional attack he knew the Hokage could not avoid. He lanced through the air with deadly sharp blades of Gold Dust, covering anywhere the storm of bullets didn't already strike out against. To be sure the Hokage could not avoid his barrage of attacks entirely, the Gold Dust that already filled the air ripped back through it and towards Rasa, forming a densely compacted sphere around him.

Even if the Hokage had avoided his direct attack, there was no way he could avoid every ounce of Gold Dust returning to him. There was too much for any Shinobi, no matter the skills they possessed, to avoid. No one could survive the full wrath of the Kazekage, no one at all.

A spiraling torrent of water fired through the air nearly punched through his shoulders. A wall of Gold Dust blocked it even as a barrage of fireballs came from above him. He hardly had the chance to turn and look before Gold Dust engulfed him as a dome. He was able to weather the attack he wasn't even able to see then. It was a single invisible blade of air that cut a deep gash in the Gold Dust around him and would have killed him if he had tried to defend against only what he could see, his defense nearly failing to keep him safe from harm even when it completely enclosed him.

'I guess this makes sense.' Rasa wasn't angry as a revelation struck him. 'The Kami no Shinobi should be this incredible.' He threw his arms out to his sides, splayed his fingers, and created great sweeping sickles of Gold Dust to rotate around him. He spread his stance, stomped one foot, and Gold Dust erupted into spikes beneath the ground. He clenched his fists and more Gold Dust scattered through the air, hanging there as nothing but dust. 'I should have taken this serious from the start.'

A network of spikes moved beneath his feet, Gold Dust spread through the air and would act as a sensory net, and the large sweeping sickles would work to keep him from a direct attack. All in addition to the dome of Gold Dust quickly transitioning into a sphere around him.

'I need to attack and defend from all angles.' Rasa sat down in his nearly impenetrable defense, closing both eyes as Gold Dust formed a number of razor sharp rings around the levitating sphere, beginning to rotate and spin around him faster and faster until they were nothing but a blur. It was designed to add a new layer to his defense, to lacerate anything that approached him. 'He's not in his prime anymore. He can attack me with as many Jutsu as he wishes but he can't keep it up forever. As much as it pains me to admit, I will have to fight a battle of stamina.'

If there was one thing the Kazakage's fighting style afforded him, it was stamina. He was more than proficient enough in Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, and even some Kenjutsu to directly combat the Hokage revered as the Kami no Shinobi but he was not a moron. He had brought Sunagakure back from the edge of an economic collapse, he was no fool. He knew many people outside his village considered him weak in those areas and made it a point to never show them unless he had no choice. He knew enough to teach his daughter her Tessenjutsu techniques, teach his son his puppetry techniques, and indirectly show the boy how to fight with the sand he could control because of the Ichibi.

He knew Fuinjutsu, enough to restrain the rampaging Ichibi in the desert.

He knew Bukijutsu, able to form and wield countless weapons made of his Gold Dust.

He was not the Kazekage because of his blood or because of his Kekkei Genkai.

He was the Kazekage because he was the strongest, the smartest, and one of most capable Shinobi in all of Sunagakure. He would accept nothing but excellence from himself at the minimum in a village where excellence was the standard he pushed all to meet. To merely exceed the standards set before him was not enough, it would never be enough.

He wished to utterly destroy them. And he had done such time and time again.

Gold Dust spiraled off of his sphere to either side as he brought his hands together. Two large spheres were swiftly taking shape in the air and moved ahead, leaving his sphere behind as it was lifted higher into the air by a mere thought.

He then reversed the polarity of one of the spheres and slammed them together.

"Sakin Kaiho!" It was his, in a way, tribute to the lost Third Kazekage of Sunagakure. It was a way to bring about the proper order to the world around them, Sunagakure's supremacy over all assured to any who would doubt their might, doubt the prestige every Shinobi of the village fought to bring to it, and doubt the power Sunagakure had worked tirelessly since its founding to cultivate. The harsh deserts of the Land of Wind had made them strong and the world would see such strength when the once mighty Konoha was destroyed. Once it was burning ash, a new balance of power would be created, a new world order with Suna at the top of the food chain.

'Impressive.' Hiruzen would have died to the technique if he was unaware of it. He would not have been able to understand that the attack was completely random soon enough to get as far away from the deadly branching Gold Dust swiftly enough. He had seen the technique before in the end. The Third Kazekage had laid waste to a battlefield with it once. He had been witness to it.

He knew to ignore trying to deflect or overcome the branches, to escape from the devastating attack to continue the battle. It would be pointless to try and close the distance between him and the technique's user when he knew the attack was too random even for the user to predict where even some of the deadly sharp branches would strike at, let alone the hundreds that spread further and further. He had enveloped himself in a protective sphere that would take an absurd amount of force to pierce, something he knew the technique would not muster without his direct input. Hiruzen knew such a thing so he focused on distance.

A trio of clones, formed from mud, darted forward simply to press the attack. One would spew out bullets of mud, another would light them on fire with precision fireballs, and the third added to the flames, shifted the flaming balls of mud into deadly sharp flaming shuriken via a Wind Release technique. The real Hiruzen continued his retreat, spitting out balls of mud that expanded into impromptu shields when he saw them necessary. He landed far enough away to begin his true attack at last.

A pair of Shadow Clones appeared on either side of him as the Gold Dust at last came to a stop, began to recede back into a single massive sphere above Hiruzen's head.

'You care too much for theatrics Rasa.' The Hokage would have shaken his head at such a bad habit but he had better things to do. 'I had thought you would know you're fighting only one old man, not an army you need to intimidate but it seems you don't. You're wasting your Chakra like that boy.'

Hiruzen summoned a blade to his hand, breathed out a stream of wind to turn the already deadly sharp blade into a tool of absolute death. He raised the weapon in front of him as his four clones crouched low before the two farthest from him leaped into the air.

One breathed out the fires of hell, fusing the retreating Gold Dust into a single melted mass, and the other clapped his hands together and unleashed bolt of lightning to the sphere above them. A tower of Gold Dust had sprouted the moment the clone had begun channeling Chakra to his hands and drew the lightning to it, grounding it before it could strike the sphere.

Hiruzen charged forward in that moment with his clones, each falling back behind him and blocking the sudden onslaught of Gold Dust with walls of stone. The Gold Dust ripped through them obviously as Hiruzen continued his charge forward. The clones vanished in twins burst of smoke when spikes of Gold Dust at last claimed them and the aged Hokage leaped into the air. A spike of Gold Dust aiming to skewer him from the side was easily avoided, turned into a platform to jump off of again. A trio of large spheres came hurtling towards him next and he deftly cut them in half with his Wind Chakra infused blade. He jumped off of one of the halves and continued on his path towards the sphere holding Rasa.

A trio of clawed hands erupted from the surface of it, trying to capture him in a basic pincer movement. Sarutobi would have laughed in any other situation. His Fire Release clone erupted into an inferno, he burst free of the ground, snatched the now flaming blade from the air, and continued on his way. His two remaining clones appeared on either side beneath him and flashed through the needed hand seals.

"Suiton: Bakusui Shoha!" Both spewed a torrent of water out onto the ground, unleashing a pair of titanic waves that turned into an omnidirectional wave that surged across the ground, engulfed all as a crushing tidal wave. The Fourth Kazekage's Gold Dust was completely soaked in the water before it settled above it. Both Water Release Clones than broke down into their base element.

The technique Hiruzen stored in them then activated, a pair of water dragons spiraling into the air and roaring as they surged past the elderly Sarutobi on either side.

They crashed into the sphere of Gold Dust above him, ignored the spiraling rings around it as the small lake they had created let them recover from any damage, and quickly formed themselves into a sphere of water that drew the soaked Gold Dust forward and towards Sarutobi's deadly sharp and flaming blade. A surge of Chakra caused the inferno to rapidly lengthen, the blade to become even sharper with the Chakra wreathing it now, and the Hokage lifted it above his head.

He was covered from all sides, the bodies of the water dragon remained on either side of the attacking Hokage, the water below impeded the movement of the Fourth's Gold Dust, and even more water surrounded his sphere of Gold Dust.

All that remained was the titanic sphere above but it was too high in the air. Rasa must had intended to drop it like a meteor but had telegraphed the attack too much. Such a technique was useless against a single foe who knew it was coming.

'If you weren't so foolish I would almost regret this Rasa.' Hiruzen's eyes were cold as he brought the blade of Fire and Wind Chakra down and through the sphere of Gold Dust. 'So much promise, so much of your life left to live, and you waste it on a thing like war? You foolish youth always believe war is something to look for, something to embrace when it is far from it. War is a terrible thing and yet you've unleashed it upon us all. Such terrible short sightedness plagues this generation it seems.'

Hiruzen landed on top of the water slashing up with the blade and sending an inferno upwards to strike at the Kazekage's once defensive sphere. He sealed the blade away a moment later and looked up as the large sphere of Gold Dust began to break apart, fall away and off to the sides.

The vortex that engulfed him and the Kazekage, along with the corpses of their bodyguards, faded away as well.

The aged Hokage only sighed as he could see the chaos that took hold of the village now. ANBU immediately surrounded him, a number of squads no doubt moving to secure his exit from the arena. He would be heading to where the fighting was the worse and hopefully help turn the tide.

"Inoichi." He wasn't happy to see the head of the Yamanaka Clan before him, not when he was only before him because death and chaos reigned in the village thanks to the invasion they were all currently under siege from. He only offered him a silent nod as he crossed off finding the man from the mental checklist he had created during the battle with the Kazekage. "Gather the needed members of your clan. Contact me with whatever strategy you develop and create a telepathic link between you and the commanders out on the field. ANBU will report names to you while I head to the battlefield."

"Hai Hokage-sama." Inoichi vanished with his task assigned.

"Shikaku, develop the optimal strategy to maintain a defensive perimeter. Once the civilians of the village are safely behind the doors of the shelter inform the commanders of the counterattack we will launch. Aim to push the invaders outside the village at best, shatter their unity and direction at worst." Hiruzen received wordless nod as the Nara vanished just like the Yamanaka had beforehand.

The aged Hokage took only a moment for himself in that moment, briefly closed his eyes, let out a single exhale, before his mind was focused once more.

"You all know your missions." He had informed the ANBU of his fears and now they headed out to complete the missions he had assigned them. More than one team would be assigned to find and secure the numerous Clan Heirs and Heiresses spread across the village. Once he had them secure, the Clans would devote themselves to the defense of the village and not themselves anymore.

A trio of squads remained with him, would serve as his escorts to the battlefield and his bodyguards once he reached the frontlines.

"Let's move." They silently formed around him, moved when he moved.

The Gold Dust clone the Kazekage had left in the sphere broke down entirely.

The Fourth Kazekage opened his eyes where he had moved himself high above on a platform of Gold Dust. His twin use of the Third Eye technique was over, the Genjutsu that concealed him from sight was shattered, and he rose from the knee he had taken.

The mass fall of his Gold Dust was abruptly halted. It swirled in the air like the sandstorms that could rip through the desert at a moment's notice.

"Playtime is over Sarutobi!" Gold Dust surged into the stadium, spiralled down into the arena, spread like ripples through the sand that still rolled like the vicious and unfamiliar waves of the sea. "I've heard of your Jinchuriki's recent power. It must be impressive to know you have the Kyubi on such a leash."

A roar ripped through the village, tore through souls that remembered a similar thing from over a decade ago. Shaking began, madness nearly took hold of some as the night they had barely escaped returned. Death, pain, anger, and grief all returned to those who had battled that night.

"No..." Hiruzen turned to the stadium, saw the growing pile of sand mixed with shining veins of Gold Dust.

"But, I must admit, I've always been curious about one thing: Which of our monsters are stronger? Which of us can claim to have the true demon!" Rasa formed the needed hand signs, heard the pained roar of the beast as his Gold Dust lashed out, spread through the beast's constructed form as if they were veins.

In a way they were. They were the pathways for the Kazekage to direct his will after all.

"The Konoha'a fearsome Kyubi or Sunagakure's mad Ichibi!"

The One Tail lifted its massive maw and roared as it towered above the village, the Kazekage grinning where he stayed high above. His hands curled into fists, made the beast thrash as it was forced to move.

"IT'S TIME TO FIND OUT!"

* * *

AN: First, thanks to all those who reviewed.

Second...

THIS CHAPTER COULD BE SO MUCH BETTER! It annoys me that its so short. Its hardly even a satisfying conclusion but this is where writer's block happens. I literally couldn't move past certain points and hated it. If I kept working on it any longer, I probably would have deleted the entire thing. The fight between Hiruzen and Rasa could be so much better, so much more exciting, but I didn't have any ideas for it in the end. The Third Hokage vs the Fourth Kazekage should be epic but it feels like its too short and a myriad of other things.

IT COULD BE SO MUCH BETTER!

Moving past my disappointment with this chapter (and, in retrospect, several others in this update), Orange Legion will hopefully get more common and larger updates now. I had to do most of the chapters in this update on my phone due to computer issues. Hated doing it. Literally considered stopping the story at some point because writing on my phone did not match up at all to how I like writing Orange Legion. Apologies for random typos and errors that no doubt plague this update. And further apologies for the no doubt dip in quality of these chapters compared to the others. They're all probably missing something but I couldn't discover prior to finishing this batch and fix. Also figured the arc needs to move ahead more. Its honestly gotten pretty...tiresome and I want to progress the story more.

Good news! The Konoha Crush arc will likely conclude within...ten chapters max. I may shoot for one really long chapter. Depends on what I want to touch on. But I'll definitely be able to move ahead at last to something beyond the invasion. Its incredible that I could spend so much time on building up to the invasion but when I actually get to it I want to do nothing more than to get it over with.

Question time: What is a better way to conclude the invasion

A) Use the viewpoints of different characters (absentees like Tenten, Kiba, Shino, Danzo, etc.) to wrap it up.

B) Focus on the Legion and only give what amounts to a summary of everyone else

C)...Timeskip to after the invasion (Probably won't do this...but can never be sure)

Just curious if there's a preference to how this should all conclude. I'm working on the conclusion now but it's in the very early beginning so can be modified.

Peace.


	52. Phase Two Begins!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full Chapter Title: Phase Two Begins! Demon Unleashed: Ichibi!

* * *

At last the demon held within the boy, the beast that was the cause of an obsession with blood, was allowed to let out a mighty roar. The towering form of the unleashed Tailed Beast could be seen from everywhere one could be in the village. Even at the destroyed gates.

"Ah, it looks like Rasa-kun has stopped wasting time." Orochimaru let his blade fall to his side, ignored the presence of Jiraiya for now. "I was starting to think he would forget the next stage with how long he was taking. That would make me regret letting him live so long."

"I don't know what's worse, that I thought the Kazekage was some corpse you animated or that he's actually the one behind this. I still don't know which one is better." Jiraiya didn't lower the two kunai he held in his hands. It would be foolish to drop them.

Orochimaru was too much of a threat to ever drop one's guard around. The fact that he looked amused, happy even, at the sight of the Ichibi showed Jiraiya that the invasion was about to get much worse for Konoha thanks to the mad man in front of him.

"Don't be so harsh on him Jiraiya-kun." The rouge Shinobi smiled. "Rasa-kun cares for his village enough to invade another to prove his dominance to that Daimyo of his."

"And I bet you gave him that advice?" Jiraiya had his answer in the continued smile from Orochimaru.

"I would never do such a thing Jiraiya-kun. But his advisors agree so much better when they're all already dead." The blade of one third of the famous Sannin vanished in a sudden burst of smoke. "This little meeting of ours was delightful Jiraiya, the chance to catch up with an old friend like you is always exciting. I'm almost hoping you survive all that I have planned just to fight you like this again."

Before Jiraiya could press him, demand an answer to his latest insanity, Orochimaru was gone. The clone striking from above failed to end the Snake with a Giant Rasengan. Jiraiya hardly paid any attention to the python his kunai plunged through once he sidestepped the sudden lunge. It vanished before it struck the ground and the Toad Sage dispelled his clone.

"Whatever he was talking about can't be good for the village." He vanished from the destroyed forest.

It, once a great forest before the mighty gates and towering walls of Konoha, was nothing but the remnants of destruction brought forth from a battle few could survive. The two Sannin, even if both fought far from their full power, destroyed an equivalent amount of forest as the stadium the Hokage had battled the Kazekage within.

"At last!" Naruto's face lit up with joy as he sensed the power that washed over the stadium, washed over the village. It was a sign to him, a sign that his moment of glory had at last been presented, that his chance to display the power the Caesar of such a Legion as his own commanded was at last here. He rejoiced at such a thing.

"Legate, mobilize the Fifth and Sixth Cohorts with all possible haste to destroy the invaders! Lead the First where the most challenging of foes await! Show them the might of my Legion while I show the beast here why I am known as Caesar!" Naruto quickly shouted his orders, a childlike excitement taking hold of the Caesar.

At last, the time he had long waited for had at last arrived. He desired nothing but to show all his might, his strength, and at last show why he should be known as Caesar. The anticipation for such an event, for such a grand opportunity to unveil his might to the world, had made him overcome with excitement in this moment.

"Of course Caesar!" Sasuke grinned as he saluted Naruto. "The mad dog will face your wrath at last!"

"Indeed it shall Legate!" Naruto raced up the main steps, those that the observing civilians had taken to see the matches in the Chunin Exams, and took them two, three, and at times even four, at a time. He raced up them as Sasuke turned back.

"You all need to be ready to move now. Those escorting the Hyuga are likely already near the tower. You will be safe there." Sasuke glanced to his arm where the seal was placed. "If not, you can simply move with them to the tower."

His Sharingan was active once more, he held his newly presented shield on his arm and took note of the blade sheathed inside it. He grinned at the fact. His own personal weapons, exquisitely crafted to show his return to the true prestige of a title such as Legate.

It was a good feeling.

"What about the people?" Ino had been silent when he and Naruto had entered the building but now slowly limped over to him. "You said you would evacuate them."

"And I shall." Sasuke pressed a finger to his ear beneath his helmet. "Centurion, what is your progress?"

"The stadium is evacuated, the living and dead alike. What is my next task Legate?" The Centurion of the Fifth clearly desired for battle. It was clear in the hints of anxiousness in his voice, the boredom that filled his words at such a simple task. He thirsted for the chance to lead his Cohort into battle, to allow them the chance to lay their own bloody claim to glory on this day.

"Rally your Cohort and march them forward to battle. Caesar's plans have not changed. The Sixth will soon head to battle with the invaders as well. I have been instructed by Caesar to take the First to where the fighting is most vicious and stake claim to glory for his Legion there." Sasuke was grinning as he spoke, as he walked over to the Genin.

He stopped Ino halfway, held her under one arm to steady her on her injured leg.

"At last." Relief at escape from such a boring task as evacuation came through the two words. "I shall take my forces to battle where the Toad Sage dispatched the summon of his that wielded blades. I believe it was the western gate."

"Find glory in battle Centurion of the Fifth."

"You as well Legate."

The connection was ended and Sasuke reached the group.

"I still need to move you all away from here." He seemed to sigh at the very thought but his grin remained on his face. "I nearly forgot about such a task."

"With that Chakra building in the stadium, we shouldn't head out on the streets. There's no telling what's going to happen when this thing finally blows." Shikamaru glanced to the ground. "This place has underground maintenance tunnels that connect to the tunnels for the shelter. It won't be nice or easy but it beats getting taken by surprise by whatever's up there."

"A Jinchuriki." Sasuke's eyes were focused on the tinted glass doors that would take them outside into the village once more. "The Legion, and myself, is quite sure the beast sealed inside Gaara is the Ichibi, a tanuki with control over sand and power over strange cursed markings. The sand the boy controls is likely tied to the beast, using its power to defend its host and, by extension, itself from any harm."

"So that kid has a demon in him?" Choji looked back to where the arena rested, where Gaara was no doubt transforming into the monster he truly was.

"He is of no concern to you Akimichi." Sasuke strode towards the tinted glass doors in front of him. "Now let's get moving."

He didn't bother with the tunnels. He would do nothing but stride out of the building as Legate of the Orange Legion, not some rat scurrying under foot with hopes of not being discovered.

Away from him, Naruto came upon the towering form of the Jinchuriki's burden released to the world at last. He stared at it and the excited, almost joyful, smile he wore as he moved turned into something else.

"This power is…" Naruto stared at the beast he would be challenging. "It is pitiful!"

He drew his blade from his side and his body was cast in shadow and light by the azure flames that sprouted from his blade.

"Come here you beast!" He swung.

The massive beast of sand before him lost part of its marked and shining stomach.

"Show me some of your strength you mad dog!" Naruto swung again, unleashed a horizontal bladed wall of Chakra that stretched across the entirety of the stadium's fighting arena. "Are you even deserving of my blade or are you nothing but a rabid mutt!

It slammed into the beast he so desired to do battle with, knocked it to the side with the explosive impact. It also succeeded in throwing Naruto back momentarily. The Caesar didn't fall but he grabbed hold of the railing to steady himself even as a fresh azure flame burned on his blade, as his eyes shifted to a burning crimson.

"Fight you beast!" Naruto swung again on the roaring Ichibi, unleashed his growing fury at what had turned his immense anticipation into disappointment. "Fight me!"

The walls of Chakra he unleashed against Neji during his battle with the Hyuga prodigy were not a thing to compare to his current attacks. They were massive, filled with power far too dense to be broken through or diverted. It was the closest pure Chakra could become to an instrument of destruction.

Naruto swung again.

The beast swung a shining sand claw at him.

A furious storm of sparkling sand bullets of all shapes and sizes surged towards the lone Shinobi before the beast, would have killed, ripped to shreds, any other who wished to face the monster. Naruto was not like those that would be torn apart by such a bombardment. He mocked such a thing when he swung the blazing azure flame forward again, unleashed another wall of his might to show the beast before him why it was such a disappointment to the Caesar.

"Is this all you have! Is this all the fearsome monster of Sunagakure can muster for one such as myself!" Naruto roared his challenge once more as he swung his blade once more, allowed his wrath to fill the air once more, and strike at the roaring beast once more.

It roared its fury, shook the stadium with the power behind merely its voice, and a wave of sand that shined in the light appeared without warning before Naruto. His eyes widened the slightest of bit as it came down upon him with the speed of lightning. He leaped away, jumping to a higher portion of the stadium. Clawed hands ripped free of the veritable wall of shining sand that was already crashing down to the ground, cursed markings denoting the power of the Ichibi that controlled it.

Naruto deftly avoided the first one and the second but the third struck him in the chest. He felt something attempt to grab hold of him, attempt to bind him, but a Caesar was not to be bound, was not to be subject to any other. His eyes burned with a dark red light, he was enshrouded in a crimson cloak that burned the very air, and the sand withdrew as if it was a man whose hand had wandered too close to an open flame. It had wandered close to power and retreated to nurse the burns such foolishness had wrought upon flesh. The crimson cloak was gone a moment later, Naruto not pressing a clear chance for attack as he instead took in his hands.

The power was gone from them. They, like the rest of his form, was suddenly rendered free of the crimson shroud that had come forth so suddenly.

'The Chakra of the beast…' He would experiment further with it later but for now he had a greater issue.

A horizontal hail of flashing sand bullets were released towards him by the rising wall of shining sand. His personal shield came to his arm, his Chakra enshrouded it in a crimson embrace, and he braced himself behind it to weather whatever storm the dog before him sought to unleash, whatever force the beast before him thought could triumph before a Caesar.

In the blink of an eye one slammed into his shield. It held firm. The next was larger, much larger, and slammed into the center of his shield. Naruto did not allow himself, a Caesar, to move, increased the flow of the Chakra anchoring his feet to the ground to insure steady footing. A third bullet of sand struck him, a fourth and a fifth followed at the same time. The volley only grew from then but his shield held firm for the few moments it lasted before he heard stone crumble and fall to the ground with a cracking sound, wood forced to break to splinters by a heavy weight forced upon it, and the diminishing roar of the beast as it moved.

"What do you think you're doing beast!" Naruto would have chased after the beast if sand didn't swirl around him, a claw of two colors grab hold of him as it erupted forth from the ground. He swung down with his blade, unleashed a wave of Chakra to throw it away and free himself. He was still airborne and saw the mass of dual colored sand that rolled like the waves of the sea beneath him. It was the beast's last ploy it seemed, to draw him in and crush him beneath incredible levels of pressure. A dozen more clawed hands rose, spiraled together as they rose into the air and after him. They would drag him down, rip a Caesar from the skies to bury him deep below the rolling surface.

A Caesar grinned at such a sight.

He welcomed the challenge.

His shield was thrown in front of him, cloaked in Chakra to provide a sturdy defense. He landed on the defensive tool feet first as the sand surged directly upright, as an ocean of twin toned spikes rose from the surface to rip through the barrier of Chakra between him and it. It was a futile effort and, almost immediately, it was abandoned as clawed arms emerged from the side of the same spikes that had tried in vain to skewer him in the air in a mockery of a forest. They shot up and around him instead with nimbleness he had seen from the beast before, looked to cage him, grab hold of him, and rip his form to shreds. He only drew his blade, swung as he laughed at such a useless and wasted effort. His Chaka laden blade easily bisected the hands of sand that reached for him in the heavens. He retrieved his shield by kicking it out from under him and following after it into the air with a mighty leap. He fell back to the floor of the stadium just as pillars of sand erupted from below, arched down to slam into the ground before him. He had been ready to face such a mighty attack head of, cleave it in twain with his unstoppable blade, show the Ichibi the power he held, when they stuck the ground far from him, within the interior of the sudden circle of pillars that surrounded him. He was curious at what was happening just before it was made clear. A tide of two toned abominations began to emerge from the pillars, cursed markings spread across them the same as all the sand that the Ichibi claimed dominion over with its vast power. Their false arms shifted and twisted, became clubs, spikes, crude blades, and more. The faceless mass surged towards Naruto, aimed to overwhelm him with numbers where brute force had failed.

His lips curled with disgust.

"I will not waste my time with this fodder you beast!" He threw his arm out to the side, was enshrouded in smoke and hidden from view.

From within the smoke, a number of blades were wreathed in the azure glow of Chakra, shined like distant flames within the smoke. It cleared to show a Century of Praetorians summoned to Naruto's side, called forth to battle the sand creatures before him.

"You will not escape me beast!" His Praetorians charged forward with a shout, formed a corridor forged through their steel and strength to allow him passage. Chakra laced blades ripped apart the creatures of sand, powerful blows form shields threw the grainy creatures away, and the Praetorians pushed further, widened the pass for Caesar to step through unobstructed.

He ran through and threw himself over the railing, sailing into the now ruined arena. He landed and leaped again, jumped to the next wall and raced up it using Chakra running to his feet. His blade was worthless now, placed at his side, as he grabbed hold of the edge of the wall with one hand to throw himself over it. He caught sight of the escaping Ichibi as he began to descend and two of his Praetorians appeared next to him.

Each grabbed hold of the other and their shoulders provided him a platform to jump from, soaring to the top of the stadium as his red eyes took in the sight of his fleeing foe.

"COWARD!" Naruto spoke only the single word, shouted it to the monster he knew could hear him, understand the words of a Caesar. "IS THIS ALL THE FEARSOME SHUKAKU CAN DO! ARE YOU TOO AFRAID TO FACE YOUR BETTER!"

The beast turned with speed that its large form should not allow. Chakra, one bright like the sky and the other dark like night, came together in a swirling mass before its maw. A black sphere of raw destruction was thrown towards Naruto and he grinned at the sight of it.

He descended down from the stadium wall, let the attack soar past him and explode high in the air.

It rocked the village, the shockwave it produced tore apart the buildings below the blast, and Naruto's grin widened when the beast focused only on him. Its dark eyes shined with malice, with cruelty, and with hatred few could match.

Naruto welcomed such eyes, they were eyes that befitted an enemy of a Caesar. Such eyes proved that his opponent wished for nothing more than his death, to bring an end to him and all he stood for. Such eyes promised a worthy challenge to his might.

Red wisps followed Naruto as he descended, acted almost like flames as they pulled away from him and into the air around him.

He struck the ground before leaping towards the beast that was his foe while it began roaring and unleashing a fury of boulder of sands from its wide open maw. One of the countless boulders crashed into Naruto, powered him back and into the outer wall of the stadium. He grinned as he burst through it a moment later, a red shroud of power flickering around him for a moment before vanishing, leaving nothing but remnants and the memory of it.

He ignored the strangeness of it for now. A Caesar had something much more important to do than wonder about the strangeness of the Chakra he commanded. He had much more to concern himself with when glory laid so close at hand.

He drew his blade and a blade of Chakra cleaved into the grainy body of the Ichibi. It unleashed another roar of its fury upon him, showered him in sand boulders that sought to crush him. He saw the challenge and unleashed another arc of Chakra through his blade.

"Yes! Show your Caesar all your fury, all your strength! Hold nothing back so victory is all the greater when I crush you!"

As Naruto roared his challenge to the Ichibi, gave it a taste of a Caesar's overwhelming power, the Hokage was approached by a trio of ANBU Black Ops agents. Two carried familiar children in their arms, both heavily bound. They were no doubt also forced to remain in a state of unconsciousness.

"Lord Hokage!" Yugao Uzuki dropped to a knee in front of the Hokage as she appeared in a swirl of leaves before him, the Body Flicker Technique put to good use to do so. Her fellow ANBU agents appeared behind her, their packages secured in their arms.

"Yugao." He only addressed her by name because her mask had been discarded. Her ANBU uniform had been exchanged for the traditional garb of Jonin and Chunin in the village. He didn't need to question why she had done such a thing.

She was still human after all.

Hayate Gekko remained in the hospital still. It would obviously have been a prime target for any determined attacker on the village, undermining the morale and the capability of the defending force by destroying it or, at minimum, preventing any casualties from reaching shelter and aid within. Sand and Sound Shinobi had surely targeted the hospital. Judging by the blood that dotted her uniform, the blood that no doubt covered her blade from the smell of iron in the air, she had been busy making it a lethal target that rose above the gains assaulting it could grant. Her and any of her fellow Shinobi who had similar interests in keeping the hospital safe and standing, keeping those who recuperated within free from harm.

The aged Hokage cast his gaze away from the trio of Shinobi in front of him and towards the hospital.

It still stood. Smoke nearly hid it from sight but, as a moment longer observation of the acrid black smoke showed, it wasn't from the hospital. The buildings around it burned, much of the village was now covered by the haze of war, but it still stood.

He breathed out a breath he did not know he was holding in. His old age had made him less and less aware it seemed.

The civilians would soon be safe, locked away in the shelter or protected by the Shinobi forces he had assigned in fear of this very moment on this day if it had truly come to pass.

"The Kazekage's children." He did not ask. Hiruzen Sarutobi knew how war worked. He knew a myriad of ways any battle could be won, he knew how to use diplomacy to bring a conflict to an end just as much as he knew how to cripple the enemy, how to shatter their lines, and wipe them out to the very last.

To win this battle he knew what had to be done.

Yugao did not answer him with words. She didn't need to. It took a simple nod of her head for him to have what he needed, the two dropped at his feet. A spike of Killing Intent woke them up, whatever drug that had rendered them unconscious was powerless against the surge of a primal fear of death.

Neither seemed surprised past their initial panic.

They were Shinobi, they were children raised by the Fourth Kazekage.

They knew how cold the world could be. Begging, pleading, none of it would change their fate. Only the next few actions of their father could. Rasa could spare them or damn them. It was the nature of the Shinobi world for the Kage to decide life and death for all those beneath them.

Children included.

Rasa's Third Eye watched them. He had been watching them ever since he had felt the sudden surge of Killing Intent, the refined nature of it proving it was from a Shinobi as experienced as Hiruzen Sarutobi. He knew they had his children, knew their lives now hung in the balance because their escort had failed.

The Ichibi roared as a truly massive blade of azure Chakra slammed into it, the hail of sand boulders it unleashed upon its foe by clawing at the air were truly worthless to stop the source of it. Another blade of Chakra flew towards the Tailed Beast, the shouts of the Shinobi behind them not clear to those gathered so far away. They could see the armored figure jump at the Ichibi, see his blade ignite with Chakra. He was battling the beast. He was battling it and, more quickly with every successive blow, he was driving it back.

Rasa no doubt saw the same. He saw how his trump card had failed. The released Ichibi could not triumph over the fearsome power of the Kyubi's Jinchuriki.

* * *

AN: This update hopefully progresses thing. That original ten chapter estimation to conclude the invasion? Unknown now how long it might take.


	53. A Roadblock is Reached!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter title: A Roadblock is Reached!

* * *

"And you have been delivered to the shelter safely." Sasuke chuckled as he spoke, ignoring the fact that they were far from safe.

They had been pursued after all. A massive number of Otogakure Shinobi were no doubt already waiting outside, waiting for the chance to slaughter everyone hiding inside the shelter. Innocent civilians, children from the Academy that had no place on the battlefield, and those of the visiting nobles and dignitaries that had managed to escape the chaos at the stadium with their guards. The same force that made up their guard was not enough to handle the Shinobi outside. They weren't ready to fight a force that aimed to kill everyone inside, to butcher all.

"You call this safe!" Shikamaru would have grabbed hold of the Uchiha if Ino wasn't using his shoulder to stay upright. "Those guys that chased us are going to break down those doors and kill us all!"

"Scum like that worries you?" Sasuke's face held a smirk that only continued to infuriate the usually lax Shikamaru. "Do you think yourself too weak to battle thugs that look only to slaughter those unable to defend themselves, those who have no place in battle?" He shook his head as he spoke, only made Shikamaru's face twist into a snarl. "I know you are not the strongest of us all Nara but this is simply too much."

He was having fun taunting him it seemed. He turned away from the irate Shikamaru and looked towards the doors already straining to remain closed.

He began walking forward.

"And where are you going?" Ino had to know it seemed. She couldn't seem to leave him alone since their match.

"I'm going out to a warzone Ino-chan." Sasuke spoke her name with the same taunting tone he had taken to using during their match. "It makes no sense for any of you to step outside with me." He drew the blade from his side, held up his arm and his shield appeared on it. "Especially after all the trouble it was to drag you all here."

The mark on his arm burned with his Chakra. In a burst of smoke more than several Centuries worth of Praetorians appeared around him. The large space was suddenly cramped as several moved forward, formed a wall of shields stacked two high before the doors to the shelter. Sasuke summoned his helmet to his hand and used his sword hand to place it on.

"I hope you all appreciate what lies before you." Sasuke didn't turn to address the Genin and civilians with him. He didn't need to look at them to know they were listening, all of their focus devoted to the words he spoke. "These are my personal Praetorians, some of the finest in Caesar's Orange Legion."

"Should we be impressed at how much you care about us Sasuke-kun?" Ino's voice held the same taunting tone as Sasuke's had when he spoke to her. "I can hardly hold back my awe." The dull tone she spoke with made the Uchiha chuckle.

Sasuke didn't waste any more time. He looked to the door that would open up to either glory or death.

"Praetorians, on me!" Sasuke brought the flat of his blade against the shield he carried on his arm.

"HOO!" Their cry was thunderous as they raised their blades to the ready position, held their shields up on arms that would give none.

"He's insane." Shikamaru shook his head at the complete insanity that was ahead of him. Sasuke seemed fully ready to charge out of the shelter and into the clear trap that awaited him outside. "He's not going to survive if he goes out there."

"He probably will." Ino shook her head as she leaned on Shikamaru's shoulder. "He's too stubborn to do something as simple as die."

"Single files to either side. Form the first rank. Shields at the ready! Advance on me." His instructions were quickly spoken and they were quickly relayed by those that had stood close to him.

The lines behind the single line of shield that stood ready at the door became a flurry of movement and positioning. Two long lines snaked on either half of the assembled Praetorians that were prepared to stop any attack.

"Get ready!" Sasuke readied his sword from the front, his arm bearing his shield was moved in front of him. The centurion that stood with him, set to lead his file down just as Sasuke was, nodded to the Legate.

"May we be blessed with glory Legate."

"It is our only path Centurion."

He breathed in.

He breathed out.

"FORWARD!" The shield line broke in the center, Sasuke leading a stream of Praetorians to one side and the centurion to the other, their shields held out at their sides to cover as much as it could.

'That idiot...' Ino shook her head as she watched the Uchiha charge out of the shelter, the Praetorians following him with a roar.

It was out to a hail of shuriken, of kunai, of deadly slicing and shredding air, bombs, smoke, and what had to be certain death.

"What is our shield!" Sasuke shouted the short question as he came to a stop, turned to face the Oto Shinobi that were already charging towards the forming line of steel.

"STRONG!" The Praetorians answered as one, their Chakra covered shields held at the ready as they met the wave of flesh with steel.

Blood fell, steel sang through the air, and their shields held strong against the tide of humanity and hostility.

"FIRST! FORWARD!" The orders of the Legate were absolute in battle.

"HOO!" The Praetorians shouted as they forced their foremost wall of shields forward with a mighty effort, forced back the Shinobi that tried to stop them and clash with their blades.

"SECOND! PILUM!"

"HOO!" The second rank did not advance with the first, they drew back ever so slightly as their sword was replaced with one of the many pilum each could summon to their hands. They surged forward, plunged the Chakra laden shaft and blade through the narrow gaps that appeared between the shields of their brothers.

Bullets of Chakra raced forward, forced the Otogakure Shinobi gathered before their shields to jump away, escape from certain death. They threw a hail of shuriken, unleashed a myriad of different attacks in bolts of lightning, fireballs, bullets of wind, shard of stone, and torrents of water. They unleashed all they could against the might of the Orange Legion, against the wall of steel that seemed unwilling to bend in the slightest. Already the gaps were closed, the pilum withdrawn, and shield and sword once more in hand.

"SHIELDS!" The first row slammed their shields into the ground, spikes ripped down from below to lodge it in place. Above them other shields settled as they hunched over. The spikes there were released, driven into their place above their heads. More joined them, a ceiling of steel appearing above their heads in little more time than it would take one to blink their eyes.

The entirety of it was wreathed in Chakra, turned into an impenetrable defense.

The world rocked when the barrage of attacks met the shields of the Praetorians and they refused to yield.

"Keep attacking!" The voice of who had to be the leader yelled his command, rushed through the needed hand signs before releasing a stream of fire from his mouth. His subordinates did not hesitate to follow him, unleashed enough power with their combined strength to create only destruction for their foe. "Don't let up for a second!"

The wave that held the fury of all five Nature Transformations roared forward, slammed into the shields that did not yield as those that held them would yield to nothing.

Explosions rocked the ground, spikes of earth slammed into the shields, fire crashed and burned all it managed to touch, water aimed to flood and drown the Praetorians that stood unflinching before the wave. Bolts of lightning were unleashed only to strike against the barrier of Chakra that encompassed the impenetrable barrier of shields.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" The voice came from behind them, the smoke drifted across their feet.

Those in the rear turned too late to stop the descending steel.

Blades cut them down and pilum that burned bright with the blue glow of the Chakra that engulfed them ripped through their bodies, death taking them abruptly from the mortal coil.

"What the hell?" The leader of the Otogakure force that had targeted those unable to fight turned, looked at the full Century that appeared without warning behind him. He spotted the Centurion that must had been responsible just before a blade of Chakra nearly took his head from his shoulders if he hadn't ducked in time. "How did they get behind us?"

"FORWARD!" With their concentration devoted to their attack gone, the wave of destruction had let up. The remnants were tossed aside by the shields as the locks that kept them in place were released.

The Uchiha was the first to charge forward, his shield left in the ground with so little time to make use of this opportunity. The rest of the Praetorians that had made up the front line charged forward with their blades in hand, the rest threw the pilum forward before drawing their swords from their sides. Chakra roared down the blade, created an azure flame that cast death's pale light on their foes as they attacked the Otogakure Shinobi that faced a grim fate from two fronts.

The commander of the strike force sent to lay waste to Konoha's civilian populace narrowly lifted the weapon in his hand to stop the lethal blade of Sasuke from cleaving off his head. The Uchiha pushed forward, nearly pushed his foe off his feet, and leaned in close to him. Their eyes met and his opponent was the first to look away.

"Is this all you could manage for Caesar's Legion Mizuki!" Sasuke grinned as his foot kicked the former Chunin and now Missing-nin away. "I heard that you once saw yourself to be a foe worthy of Caesar himself but this is all you can do?"

"You damn brat!" Mizuki threw his giant shuriken forward and Sasuke sneered as he batted it aside with the flat of his blade. The pair of wire strings behind it were immediately severed by the Uchiha and Mizuki cursed as he unsealed a second giant shuriken before throwing that one as well.

"Is this all you can do?" Sasuke didn't bat away the projectile this time. He sent a razor sharp blade of Chakra forward and cleaved through it with a grin on his face. Mizuki immediately backpedaled, hardly avoiding death as the arc of Chakra soared past him and buried into a building off to the side. "How pathetic is the force of Otogakure to send someone like you to lead their men? Are you truly the strongest among these weaklings that they chose you to be leader?"

Sasuke was suddenly in front of the former Chunin and he didn't bother with a blade. No weapons were needed when the gap between the Uchiha prodigy and the Missing-nin was so great.

He simply backhanded the former teacher away, a grin still on his face.

Mizuki crashed into the ground but was up on his feet quick enough to avoid the halfhearted swing of Sasuke's blade against his back. He summoned another pair of giant shuriken to his hands and threw them forward without another moment wasted.

He took the chance, as Sasuke deflected one of the large projectiles into the other, to take in the state of his allies.

Most of them were dead. All of them were going to die. The Praetorians were closing in around him, forming an ever shrinking circle he wouldn't be escaping from if he remained any longer.

He made his choice.

"I'm not dying here!" The disgraced Academy Instructor rushed through the hand signs he needed, bit his thumb for the blood sacrifice, allowed the dark power from the mark on his arm to power a technique he could never hope to pull off with his own Chakra, and slammed his hand on the ground. "KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"

Smoke enshrouded his form, hid him away.

Hissing filled the air just before a massive brown snake lashed out from the smoke. Its jaws were open, venom dripped from razor sharp fangs able to bite through any armor, pierce any defense, and strike the flesh that lay underneath. Its cavernous maw was open wide, more than enough to swallow any foe whole.

The Uchiha saw it coming, the sudden powerful Chakra drawing his Sharingan to it, and he sidestepped the attack with little difficulty. In the next moment he surged Chakra down the blade and swung down.

The serpent was beheaded with pitiful ease. It was clearly nothing but a distraction. A glance was spared to where the once Konoha Shinobi should be and it showed nothing but a hole in the ground where he once stood like a lamb brought to the slaughter. His eyes searched the ground but the man was clearly proficient in Earth Release. He was traveling too fast too far to be caught.

He also made ample use of the tunnels beneath their feet when his Chakra was too low to continue.

"The coward flees." Sasuke returned his blade to his side just as bodies began to descend from the rooftops, those slaughtered above them finally falling and letting their blood spill across the ground with the rest of the fools that had tried to match the might of Caesar's Orange Legion. "I should have expected him to be a master of running away."

He began to follow the trail. The Centurions and their Centuries silently formed up behind him and began to march behind the slow walking Legate. They knew he was in no hurry to squish an ant. With a glance to two of the five Centurions that stood in the front rank, two centuries of Praetorians were left behind to continue guarding the shelter.

"Tenten…" Within the shelter, Lee finally found his injured teammate. He fell to a knee and his fist nearly shattered the ground when it struck. "I made a promise to you when we walked to the stadium and I intend to fulfill it. Gaara will pay for what he did to you, for every drop of your blood he spilled I will do the same to him!" He looked up to Tenten and his eyes blazed with fire. "But now I will not stop with simply breaking his body, I will take his life from him for what he did to you and for what he intends to do to the village I have sworn to protect with my life! If it doesn't upset you, please let me fulfill this new promise!"

"You don't have to ask Lee." Tenten winced but reached out and laid a hand on Lee's shoulder. "I would do it myself but…"

"There is no need to speak of such things Tenten." Lee didn't bow his head at the memory of his teammate's future away from the career she had strived to have for so long, he didn't look at her with eyes filled with pity or speak pointless words of apology. Fury burned in his eyes, a thirst for vengeance burning like the sun. "I will not allow Gaara to escape what he has done. He will pay with his life or I shall die trying."

"Don't end up dying for me Lee." Tenten pulled and Lee followed the rather weak gesture. Her strength was still far from what it used to be. "I know you want vengeance but…don't waste that passion for me. I'll get it myself one day. You can go ahead and beat Gaara senseless but I still want to kill him some day. I don't care if it takes a hundred years, I'll end him for what he did to me. Nothing's going to stop me from getting MY revenge."

Her promise spoken to her teammate, the fledging weapon master pulled Lee up to his feet.

"In the meantime, you go out there and do what you do best. Show him what a Taijutsu master can do when someone is stupid enough to stand still like that."

With words such as those spoken, Lee didn't smile or offer her a thumbs up. He gave a wordless nod as he turned away.

He raced out of the shelter, a flash of green that did not escape red and black eyes as it raced past him.

A grin split his face before he wordlessly dismissed his force, sent them to attain glory in the battles that raged through the streets of Konoha, as he took off in pursuit of the student of the Green Beast.

Not too far from them actually, the Green Beast of Konohagakure flew through the air from a blow from the transformed Jirobo.

'It looks like two isn't enough.' He recovered and focused.

"Third Gate, Gate of Life, Open!" His skin turned red and his speed increased, his striking power became greater, and the Green Beast of Konoha became that much fiercer with another of his limits broken through.

"Again with this!" Sakon was upon him, his two armored hands joined above his head. He likely aimed to crush his skull with his enhanced strength only for Guy to strike fast and first, a powerful kick throwing Sakon into the air.

Jirobo arrived a moment later, his hands moving through the necessary seals to unleash an Earth Release technique, and Gai delivered a single solid blow to the durable Shinobi's stomach in less time it took for the dirt from his arrival to rise from his feet.

He was sent flying down the street, crashed through numerous buildings, and wasn't in sight any longer.

"The hell did this guy do?" Tayuya waited near Kidomaru, the two merely observing as half of their team was laid to waste ahead of them. Sakon was still flying higher and higher into the air and Jirobo was out of even Kidomaru's sight at this point and showed no signs of stopping. "How is he so strong?"

"The Eight Gates…" Kidomaru's voice was a near whisper. His changed face was suddenly pale. "I had heard he could pull it off but…seeing that power in action is different."

"The fuck are you talking about?" Tayuya would have yelled her question at him in any other situation but not the current one. She didn't know exactly what had Kidomaru afraid of the oddly dressed Jonin but she knew better than to draw any attention to them.

He had just demolished their two close range fighters.

"The Eight Gates…pure physical enhancement and limit release. It's like a cheat code. That guy is a Taijutsu master to pull that off." Kidomaru pulled back, drew back into the shadows. "I'm not fighting that freak of nature if he's really got something like that under his belt."

"You're fucking running?"

Tayuya only received a look of disbelief from the six armed man.

"Staying here is game over. We can't beat this guy."

Both felt as if eyes were burrowing into the back of their heads.

A glance behind them showed it to be true.

Guy didn't give either a chance to react to his sudden appearance behind them, striking out at Tayuya with a simple and straight blow that threw her away from Kidomaru, sent her crashing across the street. The blow had knocked her unconscious before she hit the ground. Kidomaru's body was rapidly covered in golden armor, it spreading in little more than a blink of an eye.

It was far too slow.

Guy struck him in the chest with a kick far faster than the Spider Sticky Gold Armor could properly form and harden. He was ripped from his web, ripped from the shadows he had concealed himself in, and went sailing through the air. Guy pushed off of the thread he had perched on before it fully snapped from Kidomaru's abrupt flight ripping through it and beat him to his next destination, his impact shattering the wall but he was already pushing off of it and launching himself forward. His next blow slammed into the six armed Shinobi, blood flew from his mouth as he was folded in half by the blow while still reeling from the first. Guy gave him no time to recover before he was sent crashing into the street with an overhead blow.

Kidomaru hit the ground and cratered it, his battered body bouncing back up from the ground from the impact before falling just as quickly as it had risen.

Guy appeared next to the crater before it fully finished forming.

He spared a glance towards where the Ichibi was thrown onto its side by a shining blade of blue Chakra, where he saw an island of Gold Dust hang high above the stadium that housed the Hokage and so many others.

His battle may have been won but the war for the village was not yet over.

He rushed off to join them.

The Green Beast would not find rest until all of the invaders of his home had been destroyed.

* * *

AN: I originally thought of this chapter as something else entirely: Actually write out the trip to the shelter. Decided against it. Also threw in Guy again and finished up his fight with the Sound Four.


	54. A Caesar's Power Unleashed!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter title: A Caesar's Power Unleashed!

* * *

Nothing.

It was all he knew at the moment. He didn't feel anything as his eyes opened minutely before just as swiftly closing.

He resisted the urge to shake his head to clear it of the cobwebs as he returned to consciousness. He was a Jonin. He was use to abruptly returning to consciousness, coming back from the darkness only to be thrown into a fresh hell.

This was slightly different.

He was being moved. By the way his arms were just thrown over a pair of shoulders, he was with an ally. He wasn't restrained at all from what he could gather when he moved his hands slightly. With the invasion likely in full swing by now, no one was stupid enough not to tie a Shinobi up when they managed to capture them alive. He could already think of a hundred ways to get away even with his exhausted and battered body.

He could get away despite his exhausted, battered, and strangely numb body.

"Ah…Hey Ibiki." Kakashi caught sight of the familiar scarred man, his trademark trenchcoat off and on whoever was carrying him on their back. He figured the person was a woman from what he could see of their build from his position but still wasn't too sure. He didn't recognize the hair but the smell was familiar. A bit off, a weird addition he couldn't quite place, but it was still familiar.

"Looks like you're awake." Ibiki kept pace with him and his mysterious carrier. He smelled again but still couldn't figure out who was holding him.

"Unless I'm dreaming I'm being carried like this." Kakashi didn't adjust his position. He was too tired to do little more than make sure he closed the eye that held the Sharingan. He had mistakenly opened it for a moment and immediately felt a drain on his Chakra reserves. They were already depleted and only experience let him close his eye in time.

If he didn't have it, he would probably already be unconscious again.

"You don't seem like one to dream much." Ibiki drew closer, Kakashi could tell he shifted closed without even having to look at his side. He didn't need to with how close the voice was, with how two sets of sandals landed closer to each other now.

"I always like my sleep uninterrupted." Kakashi leaned his head forward on the mysterious carrier's shoulder but couldn't exactly get a good luck at them.

The smoke around them, the fact that his left eye was out of the picture thanks to the Sharingan, the fact that keeping his right eye even half open was a struggle like no other, and a few more things like Chakra exhaustion and likely severe burns he was mentally blocking out at the moment, made uncovering the identity of his carrier a bit of a hassle. After the fight he had been through, he was fine not worrying about which Konoha Shinobi was getting him out of harm's way.

Their smell was still strange.

"Only you would be concerned with sleep now Kakashi." Ibiki moved ahead, engaging a pair of Sunagakure Shinobi that thought the three traveling Shinobi were easy targets. He killed one easy enough, a kunai slashing over their throat, while the other evaded the same fate. They were partway through the hand seals for a Wind Release technique, when a wire string finished wrapping around their neck. Ibiki caught the shuriken by the hole in the center and tugged on it.

Blood poured from the mouth of the Shinobi as the razor sharp wire cut through their neck. Ibiki didn't waste time and dashed past time, his kunai finishing the job the wire had started. He left them hanging from the rooftops, the shuriken thrown to wrap around the falling body of their comrade. The dead anchored the dead, let him hang from the rooftops as a message to the rest of the invaders.

Death waited for them all for daring to invade the Hidden Leaf.

"So…who are you?" Kakashi looked ahead again, resting his mask covered chin on the shoulder of the borrowed coat.

He didn't receive an answer. The clawed hands holding onto his legs made him believe his mysterious carrier was an Inuzuka but he immediately disregarded that idea. There wasn't a ninken nearby, not even the smell of one either on his mysterious carrier or nearby. Besides, he knew most of the Inuzuka and the ones he didn't know he was at least familiar enough with to recognize. She didn't smell anything like any of the ones he knew. She moved differently too, lacked the innate ferocity most Inuzuka carried with them with every step.

Inuzuka was definitely out. Aburame?

No.

He had worked with them enough, knew how strange their insects made things. Nearly eliminated their scent, suppressed it as they grew older and made them amazing trackers when paired with Inuzuka.

The clawed hands were tapping on his legs. The taps were following a pattern that his tired mind took more than a few second to properly remember. It was Morse code actually. Pressure based.

Press. Tap. Press. Tap. C.

Tap. Press. A.

Press. Tap. N.

Press. T.

Press. T.

Tap. Press. A.

Tap. Press. Tap. Tap. L.

Press. Tap. Tap. K.

"Sore throat then? That's a shame of a thing to have." Kakashi's question earned a nod from his mysterious carrier. "Ibiki keeps lozenges in his right pocket. At least I think. It's either that or the antidote to some poisons. He's never really care whenever someone asks about it."

The shoulders carrying him shook before tensing, a noise escaped the damaged throat that prevented them from speaking and Kakashi had more information to go on.

Her throat really was injured, enough to render her mute for likely the rest of the invasion and likely cause pain even with limited sounds. He didn't feel an increased in her pulse from panic, couldn't find any of the telltale signs, so he wasn't being carried by some inexperienced rookie who thought losing her voice was some major setback. He was with someone who knew a Shinobi had to discard their voice for days sometimes, force herself to be quiet or suffer death at the hands of the enemy. Whoever was carrying him knew how vital silence was.

He could narrow down the list.

He could further narrow down the list with one question: Who would Ibiki give his coat too?

"Anko, is that you?" His question received a sharp nod.

The tension building in his body ebbed away. He actually could relax on her back now. Anko could be trusted. She was more than strong enough to take down most of the Shinobi they came across with one hand tied behind her back and blindfolded.

She cou-

Everything came back to him.

He remembered seeing her beaten by the two elders from Sunagakure, seeing her body being shredded in the vortex, and seeing the lethal poisons of the aged puppeteer sinking into her flesh.

 _Anko was torn back and forth by the roaring vortex, her blood soon joining the poison as she found it was impossible to avoid the countless weapons within the vortex. She narrowly avoided the multiple passes of the bladed puppets. She avoided being torn to shreds but she could already feel the dozens of poisons now burning through her veins, her body going through a multitude of reactions, and the pain ripping apart her mind._

 _She couldn't help but scream as she slammed into the ground, more poisoned weapons cutting into her as the vortex ended. She tried to rise but the two puppets crashed into her, their blades further tearing into her skin and two actually impaling her through the stomach._

He remembered her saving his life, even when he was such a failure. She managed to save him, keep him from certain death when he had failed to see his opponent's growth.

 _"Shakuton: Gi-WHAT THE HELL!" She recoiled, pushing off of his arm and avoiding the leaping snake that emerged from his Flak Jacket. Kakashi's eye even widened at the sight of the deadly serpent that drew itself back into his collar. He hadn't sensed it just as much as Pakura hadn't._

 _'Anko?' Kakashi looked to the bleeding Tokubetsu Jonin. He wouldn't hide or deny it, he was shocked at the level of skill she had. He had thought he had been aware of everything in the battle, forced to be to keep himself alive against a Kunoichi as skilled as Pakura, but he was clearly wrong. The snake settled behind his collar and, even though he had just seen it, he didn't know it was there by his senses. 'Anko.' Resolution entered his eye even as smoke drifted up from his collar, marking the disappearance of the snake._

 _He needed to repay Anko for saving his life._

 _He needed to save her life to make sure he could._

He remembered failing to beat Pakura, failing to save her after she had done so much for him, saved him even when she was so close to death.

 _Kakashi's abrupt movement, what may even become his last act, had made his body refuse any future command from him. He was lucky he could remain upright and not collapse. His broken arm made him wince but he did his best to ignore it, focus on the battle he still had to win._

 _His eye drifted to Anko._

 _'Anko.' He needed to save her. He still had at least some time._

 _At least he hoped he still had time._

"Anko…"

He didn't feel pain.

Anko was here.

The world was a bit too hazy. It was too unclear.

He was dead.

Even now Anko was helping trash like him, carrying the failure who couldn't keep a single promise.

"I'm sorry." It was all he could say, all he could say was how sorry he was for failing. He had failed another comrade, failed to save another friend. He has failed and he couldn't even bother with remembering them, visit the Memorial Stone every chance he could.

He couldn't even ask her for forgiveness every day, ask her to-

"You're not dead." Ibiki pulled back at his side.

He had seen Anko's eyes widen, figured what Kakashi had said. He was no doubt half delusional from the beating he had taken. Anko and her sudden fierce protectiveness over the unconscious Shinobi had eased up enough to let the scarred man give Kakashi a minor injection, something to dull the pain he would certainly feel when he woke up. He had obviously overestimated the dosage because Kakashi wasn't feeling anything.

He would definitely be wincing at least with how mangled his arm was, with the burns that covered his body from his battle with Pakura.

His body was likely entirely numb.

With how morbid Kakashi tended to be, he no doubt thought he had died during his fight. It wasn't exactly out of the box to think his clash with Pakura of the Scorch Release had been too much for his body to handle with how he had ended up. It was a miracle he was still alive, that either of them had made it out of the fight alive. They hadn't exactly resorted to low level Ninjutsu. He had sensed the battle despite the power of the Ichibi washing over the stadium.

The two had been trying to kill each other by going nearly all out from the start.

He also knew Kakashi wouldn't believe him without proof.

So he flung a senbon into his arm, directly in sight of his one currently usable eye.

He didn't react even if he saw it go in, pierce the skin.

Ibiki snatched the needle out before Anko could move and see it at the sudden shift of Kakashi's weight. He was just fast enough to then throw it towards another Sunagakure Shinobi approaching, making them grunt before a pair of shuriken from Anko finished him off, the strange Chakra she had unleashed earlier wreathing the weapons in a purple glow. Ibiki steered clear of the purple snakes that ripped themselves out of the already falling corpse a second later.

Anko had completely stopped to retaliate and the snakes joined as one as they slithered across the air, unhindered by gravity or anything else that would keep the animal it was an image of moving along the ground.

Sound came from her broken throat, hisses that drew the snake to her. It wrapped around her extended hand before it simply faded from sight, Anko's body jolting upright as she was consumed in a dark aura for only a moment before it was gone.

It also seemed that whatever had taken her over was gone.

She blinked and the purple glow that had taken hold of her eyes was gone. She was fully back and seemed confused about the purple aura of Chakra around her hands, the raw power that was simply consuming her for the moment.

It was gone and she tensed before beginning her run again with renewed energy.

'I really hope Jiraiya-sama knows how to fix this.' It was all Ibiki could think as the transformed Anko easily caught up with him before slowing down again, lifting a now blue eyebrow in curiosity over what had just happened.

 _Later_

It was absolutely all he would sign to her no matter how long she stared him down. No matter how much her golden eyes began to shine with irritation at his secretiveness concerning the latest blackout of many. He still absolutely refused to tell her anything about what she did, why she kept seeing the snakes, kept feeling a massive surge in whatever power had replaced her Chakra.

She still glared at him, tried to demand an answer despite how she was forced into silence by how much pain any sound passed through her throat caused. He wouldn't even tell her why she had woken up unable to talk or looking like she did now.

Looking like nothing but a monster.

 _Later_

She wanted to growl at him but it would hurt too much. She settled for lifting one hand away from carrying Kakashi and flipping him off as she shot forward, putting some distance between the two of them as she tried to come up with her own solutions. So far she had nothing at all but she could figure it out.

Back at the stadium that had once hosted the finals of the Chunin Exams, Naruto cursed as the sand that made up his foe simply fell away, blew itself apart in a punishing sandstorm that would had shredded any other foe, the harsh grains would have torn the flesh from bone for any other foe. He was shielded by the red cloak that simply appeared, showed the might of a Caesar as he used Chakra to keep himself grounded even as he growled at the irritation the sand was.

"You do nothing but run and hide you dog!" He snarled those words as he pressed forward, one step after the other as he searched for where the beast had hidden itself now. It had already forgone its massive size in favor of one more adept at hiding among the few buildings remaining around them, found even less reason to remain in a battle it had quickly learned it could not prove victorious in. He had tried to flush it out of hiding with sweeping strikes that ploughed through all before them, ripped buildings apart in pursuit of his elusive prey, but it was hopeless.

His foe had fled and it was beyond clear now. It had fled in the storm that was already ebbing away, showing itself for the smokescreen it had always been.

"COWARD!" He roared the word as the crimson shroud that had appeared fizzled out, dispersed itself as crimson wisps akin to flame. "YOU RUN FROM ME!"

He threw his arms out, demanded the battle he had long desired.

"YOU RUN FROM YOUR CAESAR!"

He received no answer from his foe, no cowardly attack that attempted to take him unaware from where his eyes did not look. He presented himself as the perfect target, beckoned all those who would do battle with him, the cowardly and courageous alike, but none came. His challenge was not answered by any foe, he was refused any battle worthy of his time.

The few remaining lowly fighters fled at his challenge, as the sandstorm was thrown apart to show him standing tall. The Sound and Sand Shinobi that remained did not wish to fight Konoha's own monster, did not wish to fight a Caesar like himself like the cowardly lot they truly were.

His lips curled into a disgusted sneer as he saw them race away, run from their battles simply because of his presence.

"To think, my Legion must prove itself to this world at last against the strength of such lowly cretins as these." He wanted nothing but for his glorious Orange Legion to face a foe worthy of its time, worthy of meeting the full strength of a Caesar such as himself and all those who bore arms in his name, but he could not have such a thing. He was denied such a thing because the cretins he did battle were just that: cretins. "Do none of you possess a shred of courage? Do none of you see the honor of falling to my blade, of falling to the blade of my glorious Legion!" He called out to them as he swung his arms out, enticed all who would seek to strike him to do so now. "Are you all truly that soft of heart! Do none of you hold a shred of true conviction for the war you have sought to unleash!"

Seeing them run, seeing them flee from battle, it disgusted him.

Chakra enshrouded his arm as he brought it before him, curled each finger back into a fist before splaying them out.

"You deserve nothing but to die screaming for such cowardice!" Chakra ripped free around him, consumed him as a roaring vortex like no other before. "If you shall run, my Legion shall cut you down like the cretins you are!"

His army of 100 appeared before him. A hundred Praetorians was all that was needed to lay to waste such a foe as this.

"Advance with steel and shield in hand! Show these cretins what true conviction is, teach them to fear such a cowardly act as fleeing more than death! Chase them to the last, chase them down and cut them down like the dogs they are!" Chakra wrapped around his hand as spiraling strands as a small part of his magnificent Legion roared its approval to such a glorious order. His red eyes shined like a wrathful inferno as he allowed the power to the seal to go free, to unleash itself at last. "GO FORTH FOR YOUR CAESAR COMMANDS IT!"

A hundred red eyes gleamed with delight, a hundred sets of fangs were bared to the world as the Praetorians lifted their arms, brought sword and shield together with a thunderous clang and roared their loyalty to the order of their Caesar.

"HOO!"

Raw power made ever increasing space become nothing.

The blades of his Legion bit into the backs of his foe, plunged through hearts and lungs. Blood coated the blades of his glorious Legion, allowed them to purge the lands that would soon be his from the existence of such utter cowards as those that fled before him. Red eyes shined with glee as they laid to waste such fools, let them taste the death a coward deserved time and time again. They would not die without screaming out their repentance for such an act, to flee from their Caesar when he demanded battle. None would die until they had suffered death a thousand times.

Naruto watched as his Praetorians butchered those that had deemed their lives greater than their cause and smiled. His rage abated as the screams reached him, as the ends all cowards deserved was rendered unto those before him by his glorious Legion, by his ever loyal Praetorians.

Blue eyes returned in the blink of an eye and he dismissed his helmet and shield. He did not need them when battle was not to be waged. He needed naught but his blade to slaughter any fool who dared to come to him now.

"Legate, the foe I so eagerly awaited has fled from battle." He pressed a finger to his ear as he spoke. "If you see that dog, inform me and I shall tear it apart for disrespecting its better in such a way."

"I shall keep my eyes peeled for such trash Caesar." Sasuke paused in his rush after the swift Rock Lee and the handful of Legionnaires that followed him did the same. They all seemed to have heard what their Caesar had spoken but it needed repeating as he turned to them. "If any of you see Caesar's foe, inform me! The dog must still learn!"

"HOO!" They answered with the hilts of their blades striking their shields, grins upon their faces at a dog knowing its place before the might of Caesar. Blue eyes gleamed with anticipation for being the one to show Caesar where his foe had run to, to be the one to let Caesar begin his battle once again and tear apart such a weakling as the Ichibi.

Naruto chuckled as he heard the eagerness of his Legion to find the beast that had made such a cowardly flight from death at his hands. He chuckled as he jumped onto the side of the stadium, beginning a climb to the top that took him mere moments. He did not savor the view before him, of the village obscured by smoke, of the numerous battles that raged below like ever gluttonous flames in a forest lit aflame. He did not focus on such sights before he had greater concerns.

Personal pleasure could come after business.

"Hokage-jiji!" His voice carried so effortlessly over the stadium that his Legion had evacuated earlier, called to the Hokage that held a mental conference with the heads of the strongest Clans that called Konoha their home.

He landed after a mighty leap before the Hokage, ignored the trio of ANBU Black Ops that silently appeared at his back, blades poised to take his life at his sudden appearance. They were ignored because his Praetorians answered in kind, a trio appearing behind him with shields at the ready and pilum ready to plunge forward.

"Naruto…" Hiruzen stared at the boy that had appeared before him as he rose from his crouch, took in his gleaming armor and his blue eyes that burned so fiercely with a light he had never seen in eyes so young, not where another had once burned so bright. The aged Hokage merely looked on at the ghost of the smile that left his face as he met his eyes, as he inclined his head ever so slightly as he did so.

What he felt was discarded for now, tossed aside as he sought to preserve the village so many had already made the ultimate sacrifice for, that so many more waited for their only chance to give up all they had to see the tree leaves bud anew.

Naruto cast his blue eyes to the feet of the Hokage, where two masked ANBU Black Ops held the Kazekage's children in place.

"Ah, I see you have captured some of the spawn of the man responsible for all of this." Naruto's smile was a thing to fear as he looked down at the two captives. Fear they had once thought they held for only one was eclipsed by a new fear.

The eyes that looked upon them promised suffering.

Those sapphires promised to make them embrace the sweet nothing of the end.

The empty eyes of the ANBU were warmer than those eyes.

He looked away with a low chuckle as he saw the two Genin press themselves away from him, into the armor of the ANBU that would kill them without hesitation. They would be quick with rendering such a fate at least. Cold professionalism would embody such an act to replace the cruelty those eyes promised.

A Caesar turned his eyes to the Hokage.

"It appears Konoha has been besieged." He could not help himself it seemed as he laid a hand on the hilt of his blade, let the other sweep out and encompass the village that burned around them, that was the scene of countless battles for the lives held within. "The Chunin Exams was chosen as the moment the enemies that have long laid so enviously in the shadows of the village's might have decided to reveal themselves, to show themselves for the cretins they are when they launched an attack to catch the village unaware." He brought his arm back in, brought it across his chest as a closed fist as he offered a more honest bow this time, let it be noticeable as he dropped his head to the aged Hokage that held steel in his eyes even now. "My Legion is eager to slay these fools!"

It was the symbol the Centurion of the Fifth and the Sixth had long awaited.

Power ripped free of the twin seals that burned on their arms as they slammed their hands into the ground, brought forth their Cohorts at last with eager smiles upon their lips.

Twenty Centurion drew their blades as one.

It was the sign for two thousand to do the same.

"FORWARD!" Two voices cried out as one and a wave of steel descended upon the invaders at last. Two waves of steel at last pushed away from the stadium, the two waves that made up each swinging wider and wider as a relentless and all-consuming tide of death.

Naruto enjoyed the looks of surprise, of awe, of horror, that could not be concealed at the sight before them. It made the part of him that craved such a thing, craved such a response from those he would soon rule over, bring great joy to a Caesar.

His Fifth and Sixth Cohorts at last were unleashed upon the world, a greater portion of his unfathomable might was unleashed for all to see and be in awe of. He could once again show all who sought to challenge his right to rule as a Caesar, his right to claim dominion over them all, as nothing but fools seeking to deny an unassailable truth of the world.

He was its Caesar.

All would bow to him.

* * *

AN: So Kakashi is back for a minute. He isn't in any shape to actually fight anymore but he's being his normal self at least. The Orange Legion finally joins the battle for Konoha as well. After a suitable show by Naruto.

As for Anko: She's still transformed. She's still keeping Kakashi safe.


	55. Eyes of a Snake

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter title: Eyes of a Snake!

* * *

"This is…This changes everything."

Danzo Shimura was not a man who was very easily surprised. He was not a man who was ever surprised. He had made it a goal in his life to eliminate surprise, to eliminate as many of the unknowns of this world as he could because they were a danger he could not afford.

Yet he could still be surprised.

As he was now.

Surprised and horrified at what Naruto Uzumaki had so casually unleashed upon the village, the twin tides of death that ran across the village, that seemed to only grow in size and scope the longer it remained free to roam further and further.

He was one of countless eyes to lay witness to the Fifth and Sixth Cohorts of the boy's personal army, the force he had titled as his Orange Legion.

He was not the only one to see what such a power promised.

He was not the only one to see the might of the Kyubi's Jinchuriki.

He was one of the few to realize the truth of Naruto Uzumaki in that moment. He saw the truth, the reality that Naruto Uzumaki could not be trusted. His Legion could not be trusted.

A set of golden eyes watched the sudden surge with interest.

"My, my, he certainly seems like an interesting boy, doesn't he Kabuto?" Orochimaru of the Sannin merely observed the orange armored tide as it swept through the streets, as it cascaded over the rooftops, as it left a lake of blood in its path. It left no survivors, it left none free from death.

He smiled.

"He'll certainly be interesting to see grow." Orochimaru merely watched as his force was shattered, as the Sand Shinobi began to pull back with no other option but to face death as his enhanced Shinobi fell one after the other, fell to the blades that would not stop, fell to the shields that did not waver, and fell to the force that seemed to have no end. A thousand sweeping out on either side seemed to only grow more and more, grow larger and larger without an end in sight.

One armored form fell only to be replaced by what seemed like five fresh blades.

Ten could fall in the front and twenty would surge to replace them, surge to cover their blade in the blood of their foe.

None could fall and another dozen could appear eager for the chance to spill blood, eager for the chance to be part of the unstoppable tide that was the Orange Legion.

A truly countless number of voices unleashed the same battle cry, a countless number of hands wielded the same blade, a countless number of arms held the same shield, and a countless number of eyes gleamed with utter delight at the carnage they wrought as they descended upon their foe.

Orochimaru watched it all and found himself unable to do anything but smile at the sight.

"Such an intriguing technique." The pale skinned Sannin licked his lips at the sight of such a force, his thoughts already proposed theory after theory on how it had come to be, why it had come to be, how it could be bettered, and, most important of all, how he could obtain such a power.

The sheer opportunity this was nearly made him forget where he was.

A pair of Root ANBU attempted to kill him.

He crushed the skull of one with his hand and the other was victim of a pair of snakes that appeared from his sleeves in little more than a blink of an eye. The serpents moved with speed unbefitting of their massive size as they wrapped around their target, bit down, and injected their masked form with corrosive venom. They didn't scream as they dissolved, as they gave a final attempt to kill him with the same venom burning them away.

It failed when the snakes constricted, shattered the brittle bones and let blood and more explode outwards from the sudden surge of pressure as thick coils of muscle were put to use.

"These children should know better by now." Orochimaru was spotless from the gory demise that had befallen the Root. He looked almost disappointed that another pair of lives had been so callously thrown away by Danzo.

They were the sixteenth and seventeenth, respectively, lives of such promising research specimens that had been tossed aside in another vain attempt to take his own. He was almost growing annoyed with whatever plot Danzo had in mind, why he sent so many of his precious assassins to their deaths.

"I could give you boys and girls hours and you would never manage to kill me no matter how many times you tried." Orochimaru, in truth, wasn't that annoyed. Meeting Jiraiya again had made him remember just how exhilarating a fight could be, how much his devotion towards his research had improved him, see how his once teammate had strived to follow after him and grow in strength. The Root branch of the ANBU Black Ops were nothing like that, could never be anything like that. They were unique but painfully uncreative. They all attacked in the same way no matter how many times it failed.

Attack with everything in the most expected manner. Ignore the idea of the self, only think of the greatness of Konoha. All attacks were nothing but suicidal bullheaded charges in the end, easily predictable even if he was only half paying attention to them.

He couldn't help but sigh at the waste.

The fourth must have had an ancestor from the Kaguya Clan. Dilution in the blood had made the rare trait much less prevalent but he had seen the blades of bone sprout from her wrists with his own eyes.

The ninth had a natural talent it seemed to wield two different Nature Transformations simultaneously. Kekkei Genkai eluded his grasps but the control he showed was simply flawless. It was impressive even to him.

The thirteenth had a wonderfully unique shadow technique. He would guess it was a kind of latent bloodline from the Nara with their aptitude with them. His shadow had seemed to be more like a Summon than a simple manipulation, something more akin to a doppelganger.

Regardless of their unique traits, he had slain them all with as much effort as one would devote to dealing with a rat that had made the mistake of leaving its home of shadows for the ever so tempting allure of the light.

"You wouldn't like me to get annoyed either Danzo-san, I might feel the need to destroy that entire place of yours because of that, reveal all you're little secrets while I'm at it to all the fools above your head." He knew the old man watched him. He knew the Telescope Technique just as much as Hiruzen, had likely mastered it to a similar extent.

And he did not waste time observing Academy Students with it.

His threat should be clear to the elder.

The underground facility could so easily be utterly destroyed but it could just as easily be revealed to all those who unknowingly traveled above. It could be revealed and all of its secrets, all of the darkness that thrived where light could so seldom reach, would be revealed in all of its dark glory.

It would destroy the man far better than killing or maiming him ever would, it would destroy his silent legacy that he had strived to keep hidden away in the shadows of their world. If it was revealed, if the secrets that laid within the darkness were ever uncovered, it would destroy everything he had worked for.

All the evil he had done to protect the village would be known.

He would be given a legacy, the thing he strived to avoid.

He strived to forever be the shadows that laid within darkness itself, had so painstakingly found and molded the shadows he dwelled in into an all-consuming abyss none could fathom the depth of. He had laid seeds in too many shadows, let his particular darkness spread throughout the world. He had envisioned a silent legacy.

If he let his agents continue their uninspired attempts on his life, Orochimaru would make sure everyone knew the name Danzo Shimura. Everyone would know it and all of his work, everything he had done, and then the Sannin could simply observe as he was torn apart by a rabid public.

A public image was such a pain to maintain, something he never strived for in the past or the present.

"Should you really be so unconcerned about this Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto observed the tide of steel with the pale skinned man, taking in as much as he could of the information before him as he adjusted his ever present glasses. "The boy is singlehandedly ruining your invasion, ruining your chances to kill Hiruzen Sarutobi."

"Oh I won't be killing the old man today." Orochimaru continued to observe, note how the Root ANBU at last withdrew from their multitude of hiding locations. It seemed Shimura would not risk all he had being exposed. Not now at least. "After running into Jiraiya-kun…it'll be a waste of time to bother with fighting Hiruzen. I need to be at my best when I kill him." His golden eyes drifted to the man that held himself high above the village, that silently watched on as his children were held by the Third Hokage of Konohagakure. "Besides, Rasa-kun was a bit too eager with all of this. He ruined my chance to kill that old man at his best when he decided to pull his little trick earlier."

"Do you regret not killing him then Lord Orochimaru?" Kabuto asked the obvious question and one third of the Sannin found it in himself to simply laugh.

"Of course not. His little stunt with the Daimyo, his battle with Hiruzen, and what he's done with the Ichibi is enough for now. Despite stealing the pleasure of killing my old teacher at full strength from me, it'll almost make up for it to see what he'll do now that the Hokage has his children, what will happen now with the Ichibi gone…it's all too amusing for me to bother with regretting not killing him like I thought about." Orochimaru's grin widened, spread across his face as he took in the state of his once home.

Chaos reigned. The Shinobi of Konoha rallied with the tide of steel, pushed with it to slay the invaders once and for all. The tide grew, green added to orange. It was impressive to see, a display of the power of the so-called Will of Fire of the Hidden Leaf.

Hope had seemingly been ignited within the Shinobi of Konoha despite their strongest still being so far away, despite the clans so jealously preserving their manpower for their heirs. The Shinobi of lower status were sent out first, sent out to die and become nothing but a name on a wall.

They would keep dying but their belief in victory had been ignited.

They forgot their place as cannon fodder and instead seemed to believe they were accomplishing something great as they pushed back against the invaders.

None of them seemed to notice that the tide of steel continued to grow, continued to sweep out wider and wider but did not thin. It did not thicken but it did not find itself stretched thin, it could not overreach itself with so many a part of it.

None noticed how two thousand blades so swiftly became so much more.

'You'll certainly be an interesting one Naruto-kun. I can't wait to see how you grow, what you really become with so much power in your hands…'

"This boy is certainly going to cause changes to any plans you had for the invasion Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto made a rather accurate observation from where the two resided within the village, able to see so much of the chaos that Naruto's army was spreading with such ease. "He's certainly a powerful asset for Konoha to have so readily available. Those clones of his are like nothing I've seen on any mission. Not even some of the stronger Kekkei Genkai I've seen can come close to power like this."

"Don't attempt to compare such simple things with what's in front of you now Kabuto." Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with a thirst for knowledge, a lust for it that knew nothing of the things known as boundaries born from ethics or morals, no restrictions were worth every being deprived of the answers he sought all his life. "This technique is nothing like some Kekkei Genkai, it's far too simple a term to explain what this boy has done."

"Are-Are you saying you believe what those reports talked about Lord Orochimaru?" Kabuto seemed actually shocked as he turned to the pale skinned Shinobi in full, disbelief covering his face as he stared at the Shinobi that had earned the epithet the Snake Sage during the Second Shinobi World War and had so swiftly become his mentor in many fields.

He was not speaking lightly when he considered Orochimaru one of the smartest, if not the smartest, Shinobi to ever live past or present. For him to buy into the insanity in the report was outrageous. It was complete insanity and everyone seemed to want to believe his overpowered Shadow Clone technique was something it wasn't.

"Of course I don't Kabuto-kun." Orochimaru laughed at the mere thought of it. "These fools are too narrow-minded to even begin to understand what that boy's done. I only agree with what they've called it." Delight came to his golden eyes and his smile widened. "A Kekkei Mora is the only way to classify such a unique ability."

"L-Lord Orochimaru! It's just some ridiculous clone technique! That stupid brat just overcharged some Shadow Clones with the power of the Nine Tails!" Kabuto was not exactly thinking clearly. The sight of the clones surging across the village had reminded him just how close he had come to death when the invasion began not even an hour ago.

" _Do you think I won't cut through you?" Naruto smiled at the ANBU. The shadows cast across his face by the light of the Chakra across his blade made it appear demonic. "I have no problem with such a thing!"_

He had gotten a taste of such power and he had not forgotten how it had screamed of nothing but death. If had promised oblivion and the one who wielded it would deliver such a thing with a smile on his face.

"Come now Kabuto, don't let your little encounter with Naruto-kun turn you into a fool." Orochimaru laid a hand on his student's shoulder as he suddenly appeared within his personal space. "It makes me reconsider spending so much time teaching you, drawing out your potential. You should know better than to play like that. That boy possesses something unique, possesses a power that is like no other because it's been shaped by things utterly unique to him."

The eyes of the Snake Sage narrowed as he looked towards the stadium the invasion had been launched from.

"There is something that makes that boy dangerous not to this village, not to the Land of Fire, and not to the rest of the five great nations. He's become a danger to the entire world."

His smile fell away. He had never seen Naruto Uzumaki in person before this day, he had seen a picture of the Jinchuriki once and that was all. The Uzumaki blood flowing in his veins from his mother had drawn his interest for a brief period of time before he discarded such a thing. The boy was the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi since his birth and was only interesting to see the long term effects of the seal the Fourth Hokage had used. It hadn't held his interest since it was an experiment that involved purely observation of the subject. The Third was no fool and kept too close an eye for him to take him away, Danzo monitored the boy too closely to risk one of his few double agents within Root taking him.

All of it was rather worthless in truth, it had only taken a few days of observation to see that the boy was completely unaffected by the beast sealed inside him as he grew. The only effect he could see was an abysmal level of Chakra control but that could have also been blamed on the boy being a fool who lacked the barest shreds of patience.

The Jinchuriki of the Ichibi had drawn his interests away not too long after his observations. The boy was clearly influenced by the beast, the seal was somehow a mess he enjoyed simply observing as the host's mind fell apart and served as a complexity he simply enjoyed unraveling as time went on. The Jinchuriki of the Hachibi was even more interesting. His strange draw to the moon, his control being strained during a full moon to such an extent that the Hachibi could manifest itself even under additional seals, it was all very interesting to see. There was so much more interesting than some prankster of a boy in Konoha, one who showed behavior painfully in line with what he had expected of such a loud boy, and one far too risky to try and grab without good enough reason.

The Third had learned to increase security around Jinchuriki after the prior host was kidnapped right from under their noses.

Orochimaru almost regretted not keeping up to date on the boy, not seeing him up close until today.

He had absolutely no idea what he had done since his initial look at him so many years ago.

His smile returned. There was certainly a fondness in them, like the Snake Sage was seeing a friend he had no idea was a friend until mere moments ago.

"There is something about Naruto Uzumaki…something almost terrifyingly strange."

He released his student. His smile somehow widened as his eyes sharpened, distance became nothing to him. He analyzed the boy so far away, saw the power that flowed so freely from his body, the power that was distinct to only one beast in this world.

"Yes, Naruto Uzumaki is certainly different from all the others."

His concentration had lapsed again.

Three charged him from the shadows this time. They had hidden themselves well, masked themselves under the abundance of Chakra the battles waging across Konoha released into the village. It was an impressive skill that Danzo had sullied once again it seemed. Such a trio of interesting Shinobi wasted in the Root program, snatched up by Danzo out of some misguided sense of using them.

He did nothing.

He merely looked to Kabuto.

Blue Chakra enshrouded the hands of his gray haired student as he dashed forward without another moment wasted. The first was easy to kill, a blow to the chest shredding his heart with an injection of Chakra. The other two were smarter, they avoided his hands as they moved around him to strike at Orochimaru from either side, drive their blades through him in addition to the explosive that were already beginning to burn across their bodies.

Kabuto was there before they could manage it.

He hardly spared the two a glance before both had plunged their blade through the other. His Genjutsu skills still needed some work but it was still leagues above what the Root could notice before it was too late. A push was all it took to send them plummeting from the rooftop and to their fiery and, in Orochimaru's opinion, far too loud demise.

Why involve explosives in an assassination attempt? Any Missing-nin worth the title knew the particular smell of an explosive tag from across a room. They would be hard pressed to miss such a substantial amount like the two were wearing.

"That was rather lazy of you Lord Orochimaru. I thought you would want to take down the last three." Kabuto adjusted his glasses once the Chakra around his hands died down. "You dealt with the first seventeen easily enough."

"It would have been greedy for me to kill all of these assassins." Orochimaru turned his attention away from the far off Naruto Uzumaki, his attention was shifted elsewhere for the moment, where the Toad Boss, Gamabunta so effortlessly dealt with a trio of his summons. "Hm, it seems Jiraiya-kun couldn't leave well enough alone. He's summoned some of his Toads to aid the village." Gamabunta. Gamaken. Gamahiro. All three were some of the most deadly warriors that resided on Mount Myoboku. "It seems like he's not going to waste any time when it comes to this village. He cherishes it far too much to not overreact."

Orochimaru observed Gamabunta for a moment longer, his tanto clashing with the razor sharp fangs of one of the serpents for only a moment before both pulled away. He turned his eyes away from such a sight and towards the main gate of Konoha.

It remained a bloodbath. Sound and Sand Shinobi refused to cease their assault to gain ground just as much as the Leaf Shinobi refused to give them ground and continued to provide an admirable defense. It was a stalemate growing bloodier and bloodier that would draw to a close rather soon. The tide of steel would reach it within the next few minutes in addition to Konoha's more veteran Shinobi arriving sooner rather than later. Both would make sure that the invaders would be forced to pull out of the village, use another foothold or risk complete destruction at the hands of Shinobi they faced. Yes, things had swiftly turned against the invaders it seemed. The plan had truthfully gone into disarray when the plan to unleash the Ichibi sealed inside Gaara was ruined when the beast had decided to run from Naruto Uzumaki than fight, the Kazekage could not kill the Hokage in battle and even now he remained locked in a stalemate with the elderly Hokage with his children held by Konoha, and nearly the entirety of the Sound and Sand Shinobi that had laid in wait in the stadium had now either been killed or fled out to the streets.

And, if he wasn't mistaken at the power in the air, Maito Gai had opened more than a few of the Eight Gates. The Sound Four were rather soundly trounced by such a fearsome display of strength from the powerful Jonin.

One who could rival Kakashi Hatake would be anything but weak after all. He required tremendous talent to match the natural genius of the Sharingan user after al.

Yes, things we're very much against the invading force now. Far too much for many, even the most deluded and fanatical of Shinobi, to even bother with thinking of victory. Survival would likely take root in their minds eventually and force them to flee or face the inevitability of death.

It was lucky that Orochimaru had planned for such a thing. He knew any attack on the village would gain only momentary success at best, a brief accomplishment before the more veteran and powerful Shinobi of Konoha attacked the invaders and decimated them. He had once been a key figure in those strategies, his presence alone enough to strike fear and terror into the hearts of many Shinobi. His prowess on the battlefield had made him a living legend, a deadly combatant with few equals.

He knew this was the outcome of any invasion.

He knew and had been ready.

He would never had played his hand in orchestrating all of this if he wasn't rather certain of his inevitable success in it. It would be a tremendous waste of time and resources if failure was even an option. He knew the defenses of the village, knew the strength Konoha possessed, and would never have attacked if he was not certain of its destruction.

If not that, the carnage he planned to impart upon his once home would at least cripple the village. The scavengers lying in wait could do the rest for him. He could relax and observe the chaos the world was plunged to, a disorder that simply bred more research opportunities. Stress was good for exposing hidden talents he would gladly take and grow into something useful.

"This invasion is going so poorly for us Kabuto." The Snake Sage chuckled. "It'll only be that much better when I see how they react to my newest experiments."

"Should I go get them ready then Lord Orochimaru?" Kabuto asked a question he did not need to.

"Lady Chiyo should have placed the seal as I requested." Orochimaru slowly formed the needed hand signs, he relished the destruction he would soon unleash on the village, the chance to show his superiority to Hiruzen, to Jiraiya, to them all at last. "If she failed I'm sure she won't be missed in whatever Sunagakure becomes after this disaster is over with."

He finished, he could feel the Chakra he had molded resonate with the seal so far away.

He smiled.

"RELEASE!" The world seemed to still for a moment with the shout.

The seal far away burned with a malicious power. It blazed with a corrupted power. It erupted with raw fury.

* * *

AN: So, if you ever wondered what Orochimaru's thoughts were on a lot of things, you now have them. Now onward to an author's note:

First off just countless thanks to everyone who reviewed Orange Legion, who decided to favorite and follow Orange Legion, and to everyone who just sat down and read what is the longest story I've ever written on this site so far.

Now for Orange Legion itself: This story has become a pain to write. I don't know why and I don't know how it happened. It just did since the last update to it wasn't even in the second half of 2018. It was in April. Something happened at some point that made this story very, very, very difficult to write. I tried side projects to take my mind off it, to see if it was just burnout at trying to just write and write, but its not that. The story is just something unpleasant to write now.

Other chapters are written since I honestly was trying to finish off the invasion in this update but I just keep hitting roadblock after roadblock in them, keep getting to long stretches of time where I'm just stuck in one spot with no idea how to get to where I want to go next. I know what I want to have in the future but it seems impossible to get past the story's present.

To make a short story even shorter: I stopped liking to write Orange Legion.

I'll hopefully find a way to push through but I don't count on it. I'm not trying to abandon this story but it seems closer and closer to happening the more I try to write through this invasion arc. I'm trying to avoid making this story just one of many abandoned stories on this site but it is challenging. I debated just skipping over the invasion like I listed as an option in the last update but I couldn't do that. I spent so much time working to this, spent so much time building to the invasion, that I felt it would be a disservice to just skip it because it got hard to write for. Maybe things will change and maybe they won't but like I said, I have several more chapters in the works. Hopefully this thing with Orange Legion clears up and I have fun writing it again.

If the worst does happen and I suddenly say I'm abandoning Orange Legion I would encourage anyone reading this to make your own Orange Legion, to see what you can do with the idea. Even while I'm still trying to write this thing I would encourage anyone to take up the idea of Orange Legion and make it into your own story.

Peace.


	56. The Turning Tide

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter title: The Turning Tide!

* * *

"What?" Naruto was the first to notice the sudden surge of Chakra that came from beneath their feet, the suddenly appearing and vexing Chakra that released itself as a violent violet volley of vicious winds. "Where is this power coming from?"

Shikaku turned inwards towards the stadium, his eyes going wide as he saw what was happening.

Time. Time almost seemed to slow for the Nara. He could almost feel as everything simply came together. He could think so clearly as he saw the power surge, the seal that had laid hidden burn brighter and brighter. He could see it all so clearly but he could do nothing.

'This. This is an unmitigated disaster.'

'Konohagakure's standing doctrine is to focus all efforts towards evacuation of civilians from danger areas into shelters. If civilians are being transported by a prior allocated force all available Shinobi will prioritize defeating any invading threat. The four primary gates of the village will be reinforced with all available manpower.'

'Orochimaru knows that. We haven't updated a standing doctrine for invasion in decades. Not even edits. He knows exactly how we fight and I've ignored that. We all ignored it. He knew where the village's strongest fighters would be if we thought there was going to be an invasion. We'll prioritize outlying defenses. We'll prioritize patrols for detecting. We'll prioritize the walls. We would meet any force head on.'

'And all of our strongest would be completely away from the center of the village.'

The surge of Chakra below them, within the center of the stadium, violently discharged.

The stadium was blown to bits.

"What the hell?" Sasuke turned around when the world flashed to purple ever so briefly. He had originally discarded such a great buildup of Chakra. The Legate had figured Caesar had reined in the unruly beast that had so cowardly fled from him and it was attempting to escape once again. It seemed he was wrong. Very, very wrong.

He shielded his eyes from the light as the stadium was destroyed in a violent blast. He had scarcely blinked before he saw the oncoming cloud of dust coming towards him, sweeping over the village after part of it had just been annihilated.

"Shields!" He barked out the order as he lifted his own with one arm and braced said the arm with his other. The Legionnaires followed his instruction without question, rose up their shields and braced themselves behind them.

The dust swept over them just as the Legate closed his eyes, turned his face away from it.

He stopped breathing for a moment, let it sweep over him, to try and rip him off his feet as he anchored himself to the ground with Chakra. He dug his shield into the ground, used it as both a barrier and another anchor to stay on his feet.

It worked marvelously well.

The Praetorians with him followed his example.

"Dammit!" Naruto recovered quickly once he hit the ground. His armor may have absorbed the vicious impact that left a crater or he was simply too enraged to care for his no doubt numerous injuries. It could even be a mixture of the two. "You resort to cowardly tricks now!"

His fist struck the ground and it ruptured beneath it. His mind was no longer clear, he felt nothing but rage at the deceit that had laid in the ruins of the stadium. He saw it as nothing but an insult, nothing but a clear attempt at humiliation to what had been his long awaited moment of triumph. Whoever was responsible for this would pay. Oh yes, whoever was behind such an attempt to end him in such a cowardly manner would pay dearly for the sin of trying to ruin the moment he had long awaited for. He would dismember them, he would slice flesh from a body writhing in place piece by piece, and he would make the suffering they would go through absolutely legendary.

He would not grant it the sweet release of death until they had paid a hefty debt to a Caesar. They had ruined his grand stage, ruined the final triumph of his Legion over all fools who would deign to call themselves his foes. They had ruined the moment he had long planned for, the grand reveal of his strength to all who had once doubted him.

It should have been his crowning triumph.

It had been.

And now it wasn't.

He drew his blade from his side and his red eyes burned with hate, burned with his wrath, and burned with power.

He was just about to launch himself forward, throw himself into the slaughter the battle would be, when a hand settled upon his shoulder.

"Calm down Naruto." Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice was suddenly a thing he had never heard. It was not a gentle word, it was not an offer. It was law. It was a word spoken with absolute authority.

A Caesar found himself frozen.

His rage abated.

The crimson cloak that had bubbled up from his skin was gone. The power that had rendered the sight of him akin to a feral beast was gone far quicker than it had emerged.

"For now." He regained himself quickly. He did not release his hold on his sword even as the rest of the Shinobi that had stood with them on the top of the stadium were freed from the iron cages that had surrounded them, kept them from any harm beyond the shock of a sudden impact.

"What was that?" Yugao secured one of the Kazekage's children under each arm. On either side of her, a pair of ANBU Black Ops stood with their weapons drawn. She would carry the hostages while they would ensure she reached whatever destination was decided on.

"It was no doubt Orochimaru's contribution to this attack." Hiruzen let the staff that had so suddenly appeared in his hand rest on the ground. "It was an explosive seal of his own making."

'It is exactly as I feared. Otogakure is another of his tools for his experiments, another place to commit his horrors.' Hiruzen's grip on his staff tightened. He felt his rage at his foolish student grow before he took in a deep breath.

Anger would only cloud his mind.

"The Kazekage is still above us." He turned his eyes towards the skies. High above them the Kazekage was revealed as his sphere of Gold Dust broke apart. The platform was swiftly lowering. "It is time to end this foolishness before more lives our lost."

"He's going to attack." Shikaku stepped back as his shadow shaped into a ring at his feet. He didn't drop into a crouch but he brought his hands up into the classic seal of the Nara Clan Hiden technique. Dark threads spread to the shadows around him, spread his range as much as he was able to at the moment.

The attack being launched at noon had limited him but now a haze hung in the air. The dust from the exploding stadium only helped him now.

He could work within the shadows now.

"Lord Hokage!" Gai landed as a green blur, his red skin denoting his use of the Gate of Life.

"Gai, it is good to see you alive and well. Especially at a time like this." Hiruzen didn't take his eyes off of the platform of sand. Claws were beginning to branch out now, spread throughout the space between the two groups. The Kazekage's eyes were burning with wrath, with absolute fury.

He seemed to have no intentions to surrender.

"My opponents could not stop me." Gai's eyes were swiftly focused on the powerful Fourth Kazekage after a glance to his fellow Shinobi even as the Gold Dust before them began to grow, the strands became thicker and thicker the more time passed. It was almost as if blood was surging into a limb and filling it with greater and greater strength. "He will not stop the invasion."

"It seems that way." Hiruzen drew up his staff. He moved it behind him as he allowed himself a brief moment to center himself for battle once again. He was ready in the blink of an eye. "Gai, you and I will remain here and engage the Fourth Kazekage. Yugao, take the hostages to a holding area. Shikaku, continue planning with the rest of the clan heads and continue to provide direction to our field commanders. The rest of you know your positions. This explosion was a diversion to draw our forces away from the gates. Keep them there and secure the village's outer perimeter."

"Yes Lord Hokage." The Shinobi all answered as one before they vanished from sight.

Gold Dust lanced out to capture them in a crushing vice.

They were swiftly redirected to stop Hiruzen's sudden blitz towards the Kazekage. Gai followed after him, vanishing from sight and appearing before the Kazekage before he could react after the Hokage's sudden surge of Killing Intent. It had wonderfully cloaked Gai's movement and his speed had only helped.

Naruto remained where he was.

He went so far as to return his blade to his side as red eyes narrowed at the sight of the Hokage and one of his elite Jonin work so seamlessly together.

Gold Dust formed a solid wall in the blink of an eye but its, subjectively, hasty construction cost it durability. Gai's kick shattered it into blocks that tumbled to the ground but it was enough for the Kazekage to drop from his island. Hiruzen was waiting for him below. He threw his staff forward, aimed for it to lance through the body of his fellow Kage with the sheer ferocity he threw it out. The dark ringed eyes of the Fourth Kazekage didn't waste time with the object. He swung his sleeve covered arms out at blinding speeds and released a number of hidden shuriken and kunai. They intercepted the staff and the explosions from several formed a smoke cloud and sent it off course. For the moment it was hidden away, sent spiraling into the air by the explosive tags, the Kazekage formed the needed hand signs for his next attack.

Gai was before him in that same moment and the Gold Dust he wore as armor lanced forward from his arms. Gai saw the attack coming, saw the subtle twitch of the Fourth Kazekage's finger, and didn't attempt an attack.

He shot past the Kazekage and landed behind him.

Pillars of Gold Dust erupted from the ground the moment he did so, spikes surged forward to skewer him from all sides as the pillars expanded to from a circular wall to provide no escape from any side. Gai landed on the first spike aimed for his leg before powering himself out through the rapidly closing hole. He was airborne for only a moment and the Kazekage could not capitalize on his position.

A stream of razor sharp water erupted from the mouth of the Third Hokage. His Gold Dust surged up from beneath the ground and formed into a larger stream to not only block it but to continue to surge forward, rip open the street as it aimed to crush him as it turned into a wave. The Third Hokage almost snorted at the attempt before he moved to the single hand sign he needed.

He breathed out a trio of fireballs, two shot straight forward while another arced over the wave and aimed to incinerate the Kazekage. He was ready for it as he shot up at an angle on another island of Gold Dust as even more erupted from where he once stood, acted almost as a geyser that unleashed bullets of Gold Dust that rained down from above on his foes.

Gai landed on a nearby rooftop in that same moment and it was almost too simple for him to weave between the chaotic rain of projectiles. Not a single one managed to strike him.

The Kazekage shifted to the side to avoid the kunai thrown at his head. The Hokage leaped into the air while he did so and caught hold of his falling staff.

The dark ringed eyes of the Kazekage narrowed as he let himself fall back to the street once more. The only change was that it was made entirely of Gold Dust now.

The two experienced Shinobi had seen it coming.

Naruto remained where he stood.

"Hokage-jiji, I will pursue the beast that fled from me." Naruto turned away from the battle. It was not interesting to him to see the power of another. He saw no reason to interfere and so there was no reason to remain near the destroyed stadium. "I am sure you will know when the dog feels his master's hand once again."

"The boy is impressive Sarutobi." The Kazekage turned his eyes to Naruto. The Caesar didn't leave. He rose a blonde eyebrow at the words of the leader of Sunagakure. "Far more impressive than a fearful village like your own deserves."

"It is fear to want peace above war?" Sarutobi once again saw the folly of youth. Strong in body but inexperienced in mind. He found he could not pity the Kazekage for what he had done from such a lack of thought, of knowledge of true consequences.

He was too young to understand much of anything it seemed.

"It is pathetic to pursue peace in this world." Rasa's hands balled into fists and his face became marred with anger at the very thought of such a thing. "War is inevitable in the world of the Shinobi. All that matters is that the strong strikes first, that the strong crushes all others before they can have the same done to them!"

"And at what point does the strong become too weak to continue fighting?" Hiruzen's staff went spiraling into the air as he readied a pair of shuriken in each hand. "At what point does it become pointless to fight battle after battle, to lose life after life? Even if peace is not long lasting, it is better to at least try for it before another generation is brought into war! What good is this cycle of endless bloodshed?"

He threw his weapons forward.

Four swiftly became a hundred.

Naruto's red eyes took in the feat as a moving wall of deadly black steel moved to shred the Kazekage. The shuriken failed to do so when a forest of thin spikes of Gold Dust erupted from below, easily captured them on the tip. A forest of steel and Gold Dust existed for just a moment before Rasa covered the shuriken and crushed them to nothing. Gai remained where he stood as Hiruzen caught his falling staff.

"You continue to fail to understand anything." Rasa let the spikes drop back into the veritable sea of Gold Dust he stood on.

"And you do the same." Hiruzen shook his head in almost pity. "It seems our differences are irreconcilable."

"Indeed." Rasa nodded to the elder's words.

His dark ringed eyes turned away from the Hokage. They drifted to Naruto.

A Caesar merely looked at him.

"Your beast is lacking Kazekage." Naruto spoke after a moment of silence had passed. There was no sneer on his face, no glimmer of mocking light in his eyes, as he spoke what was simply a fact. "Before this day is over, I will teach it not to run away again."

"That thing has always been a failure when it mattered most." Rasa spoke with disgust of the Ichibi's Jinchuriki. "Do whatever you want with it. I may even spare your life by the end of this if you kill it."

"Spare my life?" Naruto spoke with humor, chuckled even at the outlandish idea. "Are you forgetting who I am Kazekage?"

"A child in far over his head in a situation that he does not understand." Rasa turned his eyes back to the Hokage.

He dismissed Naruto.

It was a mistake to ignore a Caesar.

He stepped forward.

Gold Dust shot up from the ground as a wall.

"Pursue the Ichibi's Jinchuriki Naruto." Hiruzen was in front of him faster than the wall could form. He fused it into an immobile mass of melted gold with a bullet of intense flames that he had spit from his mouth. Gai attacked at that moment, the Kazekage raising a sea of Gold Dust to stop him. It was only a diversionary attack at heart and the two swiftly disengaged.

None of the three could see the absolute fury that filled the eyes of Naruto Uzumaki in that moment.

He, a Caesar, was being disregarded.

He, a Caesar, was being ignored.

He, a Caesar, was being ordered.

Death. Death was the only option for all three before him. All three would die. All three would beg for mercy, beg to feel the cold steel of his blade as it plunged through their heart at last. Death, an agonizing death, should be their only sentence.

His red eyes turned once again to blue in the blink of an eye.

He smiled even if none could see.

"Of course Hokage-jiji!" He chuckled as he turned away from the fight. His orange cape concealed the tremors of rage that rocked his body.

It was not yet time.

The world would learn of his place above all but now was not the time.

The seal he wore burned with Chakra.

He vanished in the middle of his step.

Naruto Uzumaki didn't stop his step. He swiftly turned it into a leap and bounded over rooftops with his Legate and a small group of Legionnaires at his side.

"Caesar." Sasuke immediately rose his fist to his armored heart and the rest of the Legionnaires bowed their heads when they offered the same.

"Legate, Legionnaires." Naruto returned the salute of his Legion as his red eyes searched the village for his fleeing foe. "Where are the Kazekage's children?"

"I have no idea." Sasuke didn't turn to face him as the two continue to jump from rooftop to rooftop. "I was pursuing Rock Lee until the explosion at the stadium."

"Yes, the coward behind that attack will pay. I will make sure they die screaming for such a thing." Naruto's eyes continued to search for any sign of the Ichibi and found none. "Why do you pursue Rock Lee? Are you attempting to deal with possible competition to your position?"

He was joking but it could just as easily be made a statement.

The Uchiha chuckled. He chose to take it as a joke.

"I do not fear Rock Lee Caesar." Sasuke paused at last and he pointed down to the ground, to a patch of sand far below them. "He is pursuing the Ichibi using that Chakra rich sand. I am pursuing both."

"Really?" Naruto stopped with him and the Legionnaires, ten, paused behind them. "How are you so sure he pursued my opponent?"

"He has been driven by revenge for what the beast did to Tenten during the end of the Second Stage. The Praetorians assigned to guard her room reported on his appearance in her room at least once a day this past month. For the rest of his time, he spent training himself to battle the container." Sasuke's Sharingan swept over the Chakra rich sand below them. "He seemed to have figured out that the beast has relinquished control back to Gaara."

"The dog is that afraid?" Naruto did not speak as he spat out the words with disgust, a growl coming from his throat even at the very idea of such cowardice. The creature he had been so anxious to do battle with seemed more and more like a waste. "This creature knows no end to such cowardly tactics."

"Indeed Caesar." Sasuke looked out across the village once more. He turned to his Caesar and red eyes met red. "Is such a cowardly beast even worth your time anymore Caesar?"

"I will not allow its cowardice to deny me what is rightfully mine to take Legate." Naruto grinned and his fangs were bared. His red eyes gained a type of harshness to them, of raw drive to finish what he had started. "I will drag the Ichibi forth from Gaara and I will have the battle I have been denied for so long, I will have my victory, and I will have my glory. It will not be able to refuse me such a thing when I slay the container, force the beast to come forth when I do so."

"The beast stands no chance against your strength Caesar." Sasuke grinned as he began leaping again.

"Of course it does not. None can stand against me." Naruto easily kept up with him. He did not pass him because the Uchiha was currently his guide to the match he had long been waiting for.

Away from the Caesar of the Uzumaki Empire and the Legate of his Orange Legion, Ibiki stepped out of where he had handed Kakashi off to the Medical-nin. The sight of the infamous Shinobi so thoroughly beaten was enough to nearly discourage the force defending the hospital.

Nearly.

The clones of Naruto Uzumaki that formed a majority of the defense merely chuckled.

He could recognize the Centurion as he stepped up to him.

"You have done a good thing today Morino." The Centurion stared at him with red eyes before he chuckled once more. "Caesar will be more than amused with the state of Silver Fang after this."

"Don't count on it lasting long, he's always been a fast healer." Ibiki didn't break eye contact. The Centurion's goal with talking to him was unknown but his game was familiar. He thought the Killing Intent he released, the power of the Kyubi he flaunted like it was his own, was enough to intimidate the Jonin.

It wasn't.

He had felt the real thing after all. He had been brought close to death before. He had once even considered begging for death to escape days of agony. A clone of a Genin trying to intimidate him was laughable.

"It does not need to." The Centurion stepped closer.

His eyes lost the humor to them.

"What happened to Mitarashi?" The question wasn't a surprise.

'So we were being followed. Looks like under watch at minimum.' Ibiki glanced to where Anko waited with his trenchcoat on, a borrowed ANBU mask further concealing her appearance. Her hands were kept in her pockets to prevent them from being seen. Her changed hair, blue instead of brown, further prevented her from being recognized.

"It's nothing to be worried about." Ibiki walked away from the clone.

"Tell her to come before Caesar when the battle is won." The Centurion returned to his duty.

Two other Centurions merely rose an eyebrow when he returned to stand with them and he chuckled. He already seemed to know their silent question of him, of his actions, of his offer.

"Trust me brothers. Caesar will be interested in Mitarashi." He did not speak anymore on the subject despite how the two continued to silently question him with red eyes just like his own.

"It will be your head if you're wrong." One of his fellow Centurions spoke at last and the three chuckled before they returned to their duty. Their Legionnaires were growing more than a bit bored now. Some would need to be sent out to quench their thirst for blood and others would need to take up new positions. Even if the task was boring, the three Centurions would make sure that the hospital remained secured.

It would be a dishonor to Caesar if they did not take their duty seriously.

It would be a defeat if they allowed the intruders to strike here.

They could not allow such a thing.

They would not allow such a thing.

* * *

AN: And the stadium exploded. Like him or not, Orochimaru makes a good bomb it seems. Also Kakashi is officially at the hospital. And he's still in no condition to fight. Like at all.


	57. Discovery

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter title: Discovery!

* * *

"Don't bother with a pursuit." The Centurion of the Fifth Cohort returned his blade to his side. The Centurion closest to him questioned him with merely his eyes but he would not waver. He turned away from the cowards that fled from battle and raised two fingers to his ear. "All Centurions, hold your positions."

"We have them on the run!"

"These cowards flee from us."

"They deserve our blades."

"They deserve death."

"Pursuing such cowardly foes as them is worthless. Our mission is to defend the village." The Centurion of the Fifth did not waver. "We will remain at the gates. That is Caesar's order."

He said no more.

He didn't need to. The Orange Legion was not some rabble raised with haste. The Orange Legion was a disciplined force that would not let personal desire rule them on the battlefield.

"Centurion, have your Legionnaires take up the wall from the Shinobi. Pilums or bows, it's your decision." The Centurion of the Fifth rolled his shoulder as the two wordlessly walked back into the village. The fight had briefly spilled out into the now leveled forest but it had not gone far. Those of the Fifth Cohort that had emerged with them drew back slower, kept their hold on their arms strong and their eyes searching for any foe as the ranks slowly swept inward.

It was slow going and would some take time but it was better than to be embarrassed in giving the enemy a chance to attack while they returned to the village in a mad rush. Besides, with the enemy beaten to such an extent that they ran away he was certain they had more than enough time.

"The Sixth will likely be doing the same." His Centurion didn't question his order. "These cowards might strike with those large summons again. We'll need to position Legionnaires further back in case they breach the walls again." Both of their eyes glanced to the gaping hole in the walls of the village. Neither had let such a glaring weakness escape their attention and a Century was placed there on the ground and on the few surviving buildings. "Our Legionnaires are strong but those snakes will be a problem to face again without the Toad Sage's aid."

The frog that had battled the large snake summon had already disappeared in a cloud of smoke. None of the Legion had seen the Toad Sage since his brief clash with what was a clone of Orochimaru and without a way to contact him his unexpected aid was unlikely to come if the snakes attacked again.

"We'll need to kill them then." The Centurion of the Fifth's eyes briefly turned crimson. They returned to blue in the blink of an eye. "But that is in the future. For now we'll solidify our position."

"I'll set myself to spread the word then." The Centurion with him chuckled as he left.

The Centurion of the Fifth turned his focus towards the battlefield.

'This was too easy.' His eyes remained focused on the trees. His foes found refuge within them, concealed themselves from his sight. They could be massing again, preparing for another assault on the village, and he would not be aware until the battle began again. His foes were allowed to regroup and plan their next attack and there was nothing he could do.

He was limited on manpower. The possibility of Orochimaru's snake summons making a return made him devote more Legionnaires to his reserves than absolutely needed. He would rather err on the side of caution than be caught by surprise, unable to hold the gate, and dishonor Caesar's glorious Legion with defeat, with failure.

He would sooner die than allow such a thing.

'Hide all you desire cretins, cower in the shadows for as long as you wish. You will face me on my terms out on the battlefield.'

Far away from where the chaotic battles the invasion had sparked were slowly coming to an end, a sanctuary existed. Those who had found a place within it found they were in the safest spot in the village. Surrounded by thick walls, behind a sealed door, and protected by more than a few dozen ANBU Black Ops. Word had spread that more than a handful of Clan heirs were present and Shinobi had arrived. More Shinobi than was needed but they were still here.

Not out fighting in the streets. Not out fighting to repel the invader. They kept a close eye on the future leaders of their respective clan. An invisible circle had formed between the rookie Genin and the rest of the people, civilians for the most part, in the shelter.

And Naruto's clones added another layer to the already impressive defense. They hadn't all left with the Uchiha and then a fresh wave had arrived with Hinata and Neji and that brought with it another wave of Shinobi to the shelter, all of them pale eyed. The clones remained, a wall of steel both inside and outside the packed shelter.

"You are not hurt, are you Hinata Hyuga?" One Centurion spoke with Hinata, two others behind him and two others outside the walls of the shelter. He had been one of two to arrive with the heiress to the Hyuga Clan and her cousin. The other remained outside.

"I'm fine thanks to you." Shikamaru tuned out their conversation.

He dropped onto the floor.

"This is such a drag." He let out a deep sigh. "The village is under attack and we're all stuck in here. I'm almost jealous of Lee. He got out of here before all these Shinobi showed up. It's like totally impossible to leave this place now." He dropped onto his back. His hands rested behind his head. "What a pain."

"You look so miserable about it too." Ino was helped over by Choji. More than a few Yamanaka were keeping their eyes exclusively on her. She ignored them. "If I didn't know you any better, I would almost say you were sad not to be fighting."

"I am actually." Shikamaru didn't lift his head up, kept his eyes focused on the ceiling above him. "It's a pain to be stuck in here because of my dad. I didn't join the Academy to do this when things got bad." The shadows around him were unnatural. "I get being the Clan Heir has some responsibility but I'm still a Shinobi. I should be out there fighting."

"There's no way past all this security." Choji didn't glance at the trio of Shinobi from the Akimichi Clan that stayed close to the door or the several close by to the three Genin, all of them just out of hearing range. "They'll stop us before we got one foot out the door."

"They would." Shikamaru's eyes stayed focused on the ceiling. "We just need to get both feet out at once."

He was met with silence.

Neither of the two really knew what to say after that.

Shikamaru didn't say anything else. His eyes remained focused on the ceiling.

Their eyes turned up.

A second later the pieces came together and they widened.

"We would need to know how to teleport or something." Shikamaru closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. "It's definitely a major pain to be stuck in here when everybody else is fighting."

"Yeah…" Ino and Choji kept their eyes focused above their heads.

A red swirl, one of many, was above them.

It was the familiar symbol of the once powerful Uzumaki Clan.

And it served as a reminder of Naruto's Orange Legion, the same Legion that could move a hundred to a new spot in the blink of an eye all thanks to a seal.

Ino dropped down next to Shikamaru. A hand fell on his stomach and Choji kept her steady.

'Do you think it would really work?' Bridging three minds together was easier with physical contact.

'It can't hurt to try.' Shikamaru didn't take his eyes off the ceiling, on the one of many red swirls that dotted it.

'What are we even going to do if it does work?' Choji helped Ino take pressure off her leg, stretch it out while she kept her hand on Shikamaru, shifted it up to his shoulder.

'We'll figure something out. Lee's out there alone. He's strong but he still needs help. Especially if he really did rush off to fight that psycho from the Sand village.' Ino was better than either of her teammates gave her credit for. She could maintain the link without physical contact. It must have been because the three had done it so many times.

'One thing at a time.' Shikamaru closed his eyes. 'We still need to get out of here.'

He needed to think.

'Hinata…' Ino didn't look towards the Hyuga. She didn't need to. 'Naruto has his clones guarding her. Those look like his personal bodyguards.'

'They are.' Shikamaru didn't hold back his sigh. 'He wants her to stay here if he has them with her. They won't help us get out of here. We all saw how they acted when he had them watch Sakura. Especially when they ended up jumping in last time she fought.'

'Don't remind me.' Ino actually did turn to the Hyuga then. 'She's still our best bet to get out of here before we get stopped.'

'If we try to move with them, we're heading out into fighting. We have to be ready for anything.' Shikamaru didn't know how nervous he was when the thought finally hit him. He just knew there was a sudden spike in his heartrate, a sudden blind panic he swiftly squashed down. 'We may even have to fight that Gaara guy.'

His 'words' had the expected effect. He felt a sudden spike of sheer terror before nothing. The link itself had actually dropped as Ino lost focus. She couldn't maintain if when she thought about the monster that had crippled Tenten with a smile.

" _Enough, you won the match! It's over kid! Put her down!"_

" _No. She still needs to suffer before she dies."_

Naruto may had been insane in all of their opinions but he was nothing compared to what the Sunagakure Shinobi was: A monster. There was no other way to describe him, the thing he had turned into, the thing Naruto had been so excited to fight. Only a monster could do something like that.

'I can't believe Naruto actually wanted to fight that thing…' Ino couldn't help her shiver at the very thought of clashing with the monster she had only gotten a glimpse of.

It was enough to give her nightmares.

A monster made out of sand and covered by black markings. Sasuke had told them all it was nothing but some kind of tanuki but that was insane. She had seen pictures of a tanuki and they were nothing close to that thing she had seen. It was laughable to compare the two, to think they were anything alike. One was a harmless legend and the other was real. One was fake, part of countless stories told to children, and the other was a horrifyingly real monster. One couldn't hurt you and the other was driven by clear bloodlust, driven by a desire to kill them all from the Killing Intent she had felt.

And Naruto had gone off to fight it with what had to be a smile on his face.

" _At last!"_ She remembered his reaction rather well, through the sudden indescribable sense of horror she felt, she could remember his outright joy. He had been happy to see the thing, happy to feel that raw bloodlust wash over the village, that promise of death. He had looked like a kid getting a favorite toy or something like a puppy. He was acting like that monster was the greatest thing in the world.

Sasuke Uchiha had even shouted words of encouragement. He had told them what that monster was, something called the Ichibi. He hadn't been gripped with terror when the sudden surge of Killing Intent hit. He had looked almost as happy as Naruto when he guided them out. He hadn't bothered with tunnels or using the seal they were so focused on now. He had taken them out the front, let them see the monster as one of Naruto's attacks hit it.

He hadn't been shocked at all.

" _With that Chakra building in the stadium, we shouldn't head out on the streets. There's no telling what's going to happen when this thing finally blows. This place has underground maintenance tunnels that connect to the tunnels for the shelter. It won't be nice or easy but it beats getting taken by surprise by whatever's up there."_

" _A Jinchuriki. The Legion, and myself, is quite sure the beast sealed inside Gaara is the Ichibi, a tanuki with control over sand and power over strange cursed markings. The sand the boy controls is likely tied to the beast, using its power to defend its host and, by extension, itself from any harm."_

He hadn't been in shock. He had answered Shikamaru like he was reading off some random fact he had memorized, something mildly interesting from a report he had read. He wasn't acting like a monster had been unleashed so close to them, that it was set on the village's destruction.

" _So that kid has a demon in him?"_

" _He is of no concern to you Akimichi. Now let's get moving."_

He had written off Choji, taken them all outside before they could press for answers, before they could get pass their shock and question him anymore.

'He was weird during the entire Chunin Exams.' She couldn't help but think about how he was right before his match with Temari. She couldn't ignore what he had said to her, how he had looked at her when he said it. She should have seen it earlier but she didn't, didn't want to see it, didn't even know what she was looking at.

It was why she had been taking off guard, taken by surprise by the attack.

" _You should join your sensei and friends in the seats Ino. Stay close to them and don't wander." Sasuke looked at her with something approaching worry before it was gone. Something masked it, arrogance. "If you leave, you may miss my match."_

She had let it go at first, she had thought her eyes were playing some kind of trick on her when she first saw it. She would never have guessed she would be so wrong. Sasuke had looked at her with something genuine, had been warning her to stay with Choji and Shikamaru, stay near Kurenai-sensei. He didn't want her to be alone with her leg like it was, didn't want her to be away from the audience watching the finals.

He didn't want her away from the epicenter of the invasion.

Away from where the ANBU Black Ops had been hidden amongst the crowd of civilians just like the enemy, from where the closest Jonin, her sensei, was watching the matches in the stadium, away from the two Shinobi she worked best with in any situation.

He had been warning her.

He acted like he had known about it all along…

"No…No this can't be real…He's not like that…" She was speaking to herself. Shikamaru and Choji were still looking at her, trying to ask her what was wrong.

She didn't focus on them.

Her eyes were trained on the clone with Hinata.

She didn't know when but she stumbled up to her feet, ignored the pain shooting through her leg when she stumbled forward. Sky blue eyes wouldn't leave the figure of the armored clone in front of her. Before she jumped ahead, she had to know without a doubt.

"You!" She was surprised the clone wasn't aware of her, maybe his attention had lapsed from how monotone the shelter was, but the reason to why didn't matter now. She was able to grab hold of him at his armored shoulders, keep herself upright as much as she pulled the clone closer.

"Yamanaka." The clone responded coolly despite how sudden the situation had come together. "Unhand me."

"I want to talk to Sasuke!" She ignored him, tightened her hold on him. She couldn't unbalance him on one leg but she could at least pull herself closer using him, stare into impassive blue eyes. "Now."

"You misunderstand the Legate's tolerance of you for the Legion's own." The clone didn't shake her off but his eyes held little warmth as he stared her down. "It is in your best interest to let go of my armor."

She wasn't getting anywhere like this. Her eyes darted away from his, ignored the way his face took on a look of triumph, and settled on his earpiece. She was lucky his helmet was off, held under his arm for now. He couldn't move it fast enough to stop her when she reached up and wrenched it out of his ear. The clone recoiled at the unexpected shock and she took the entire assembly with her as she fell back into one enlarged hand.

A shadow raced across the ground in that same moment, it connected to the shadow it had been aimed for and made the clone freeze in place. His sudden red eyes focused on Ino regardless and he struggled to move, struggled to do little more than let a strangled roar of rage rip free of his throat. He couldn't move no matter how much he wished, no matter how much this sudden fury screamed for him to take his vengeance on the Yamanaka held by the Akimichi.

"Let's all just calm down." Choji withdrew his hand, Ino in his massive palm, while Shikamaru remained crouched behind him. His eyes were focused pass the currently controlled Praetorian. He didn't let the approaching Centurion leave his sight. It would be bad if he didn't keep an eye on him, didn't know his exact position. He was the biggest threat right now, likely one of the highest ranked clones in Naruto's Legion in the shelter right now. If he could get him to listen, get him to keep the rest of the Legion from attacking, things could actually work out.

It also meant that, if he couldn't, he could suddenly have a hundred or more Praetorians to deal with if he didn't react fast enough.

His shadow was more limited than he thought it would be when he saw Ino rip the earpiece out.

He had just reacted in the end, didn't plan ahead, didn't think.

He was lucky.

He didn't let the strain of keeping the Praetorian immobile show. He couldn't get him to imitate him exactly but he could keep him frozen, keep him from doing anything to Ino while Choji stepped back. Ino wasn't paying attention to what was going on around her, was trying to work the earpiece everyone in Naruto's Legion wore.

'This just got really bad.' He didn't need to be a genius to know things may have just taken a turn for the worst. He kept his eyes on the Centurion but he wasn't blind to the eyes focused on him, the dozens of figures drawing closer and closer to the Ino-Shika-Cho Trio. 'We're outgunned like this. Got to think of something and quick. I can't let this g-'

His shadow thinned for a moment, nearly retreated entirely, when a sudden surge of strength came to the Praetorian. Glowing red eyes were focused on Ino and he took a single shaking step forward. Shikamaru tightened his hold on his shadow, pushed more Chakra to the Hiden technique, and felt his reserves take a hit.

He at least stopped the Praetorian. Barely but he managed it.

"What do you think you're doing!" He never thought he would be so happy to hear Kiba shouting, hear Akamaru's barking.

He had no idea when they got to the shelter but they were here, saw them race in from the side and back up Choji. Shino seemed to just appear next to him, the buzzing of his kikaichu showing just how tense the impassive looking Aburame really was right now.

"Shikamaru." It was the first time he had seen Shino since the invasion had begun. The Aburame had seen better days. His glasses were cracked, his coat was burnt at the sleeves, and one arm had taken a beating judging from the bandages wrapped around it but he was still standing and he was ready to help. It was more than Shikamaru could have hoped for after the chaos that had taken hold of the village.

"G-Good to see you Shino." His voice betrayed the strain he was going through.

A handful of kikaichu landed across his shoulders. It wasn't much but a sudden surge of Chakra drew a thankful nod from the Nara.

'Alright, we might just have a chance here.'

Far away from the shelters, far away in the vast forests that surrounded the village of Konohagakure, four had truly begun a race towards destiny.

One sought to escape.

One sought justice.

One sought glory.

And one followed.

Two of the four clashed without warning.

One continued forward.

"What are you doing?" Rock Lee had narrowly avoided the suddenly slashing blade, the arc of Chakra the swing unleashed, from taking off his head, from leaving him too injured to continue his pursuit. A familiar blonde haired figure shot past him, the Genin catching sight of a grin on his face.

He turned his attention back to the source of the sudden attack before he could break away.

He demanded an answer and received it.

"The battle that lies ahead is Caesar's alone." Sasuke drew away, stood in the path of Lee's pursuit of Gaara. The Sunagakure Jinchuriki had been so close, had been nearly in his grasp, when Sasuke had waylaid him.

"That is not true!" Rock Lee didn't try to blitz past the Uchiha. The Sharingan have him an advantage when it came to blocking him. He clearly wasn't aiming to actually win a fight, he just wanted to stall him while Naruto went on ahead.

As he went on to confront Gaara.

"I will be the one to battle Gaara! I won't let him get away with what he's done to Tenten!" Rock Lee let his passion fill his voice, let his rage burn hotter in his heart than it had ever done before with the source of it so close yet so far. "I will not let you stop me from facing him Sasuke! You may be a Shinobi of Konoha but you stand in my way and I cannot allow that!"

"You won't interfere in Caesar's battle Rock Lee." Sasuke didn't keep his arms out, he sheathed his sword and his shield vanished from sight. "But that doesn't mean we have to fight." The Legate gestured behind Lee with a nod of his head, towards where the village was still a contested battleground by defenders and invaders alike. "I have heard of your prowess in battle even if I was not there to see. You possess a speed that surpasses the attacks sent against you, that surpasses the sound these invaders are so fond of. Your strength is perhaps unrivalled, your tutelage under Maito Gai proving more and more fruitful the more I hear of your battles. Truly, you are one worthy of fighting at the side of the Legion, of myself, of perhaps even Caesar himself."

"I will fight with those I call my comrades Sasuke." Lee's hands were fists at his side, his attempt to restrain himself. "But I cannot allow Gaara to escape."

"And he shall not." Sasuke shook his head, seemed almost mocking of the older Genin. "That dog will not escape from Caesar and neither will he deny Caesar his glory. He will pay for what he's done to Tenten, I can assure you of that."

"I have no doubt Naruto can beat Gaara." Lee hung his head. "But I made a vow to my teammate Sasuke. I have sworn on oath and I shall not let it go unfulfilled!"

He stepped into a familiar Taijutsu stance, one of the Strong Fist style made legendary by Maito Gai.

'Forgive me sensei but I have no choice now. I **must** be the one to face Gaara and this is the only way.'

"I see." Sasuke's Sharingan seemed to shine with red light as he focused on Rock Lee. He did not draw his blade, he drew a single hand up as he straightened his stance. "I will end this quickly then."

It was inevitable now. One wanted to do nothing more than to pass and the other wanted to do nothing more than to stop him here. There goals contradicted each other and there was only one solution to it all. The two would have to battle the other, test not only their strength but their convictions against their foe. One must fight to uphold his word to his teammate and the other stood as the sole remaining obstacle to that goal. Rock Lee and Sasuke Uchiha had no choice but to fight here and now.

* * *

AN: Well all of that happened.

...I kind of wanted to see what Shikamaru's plan was all about if I'm being honest. Would he use Nara Mind Tricks or something else? Do the Nara have Mind Tricks?


	58. Clash At Last!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Full chapter title: Clash At Last! Naruto vs. Gaara!

* * *

"At last!" Naruto at last caught a glimpse of Gaara and his smile widened.

He did not waste any more of his time with pursuit. He put on a burst of speed and at last overtook the fleeing Jinchuriki. His shield came to his arm and he made use of it to slam it into his fleeing foe, rip through his sudden barrier of sand with ease thanks to his formidable might.

The Genin was thrown off whatever path he traveled and slammed into a much larger tree, cracking the bark and making it groan as it nearly toppled.

Naruto landed directly across from his foe on a sturdy tree branch.

"We meet again Gaara of the Sand Waterfall." Naruto's smile promised nothing but pain, nothing but agony for the one he had named as his destined foe for this day. "Your excellence at such cowardly deception allowed you to escape the bite of my blade once but it shall not happen a second time."

Naruto lifted his arm into the air, allowed a red vortex of raw power to engulf him and spread further and further around the two that would soon do battle.

"You shall be forced to stand here and face me or you will die by a hundred blades!" Chakra erupted from Naruto's arm with his shout and the world, however briefly, turned to crimson red.

"HOO!"

A Century of Praetorians readied their blades and held their towering shields on strong arms. A wide circle was formed around the two as each shield was wrapped in a crimson glow, as each blade was suddenly alit with a crimson fire. A hundred red eyes looked upon Gaara and only disgust laid within them.

A coward who had run from Caesar would have the honor of dying at his blade, would have the honor of giving glory to Caesar and his Legion in death. They would insure the cretin didn't run from this battle like he had the last. He would taste their blades, suffer for attempting to run from such an honor as battling Caesar himself.

"My men will not involve themselves in this battle unless you run from me once again." Naruto grinned as his red eyes locked with Gaara's own. "Now let us clash! Show me all of your strength Gaara and I shall show you my own! Let us battle now and see which one of us shall prove victorious!"

Gaara only stared at the Uzumaki even as sand wrapped around him, as his gourd completely broke down at his back. Soon enough a twister wrapped around him, consumed him in a shredding vortex of his sand.

"Why?" He at last spoke as he moved, as he pushed himself away from the tree he had been sent against. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why?" Naruto chuckled at the question. "Why do we do anything Gaara? I fight for the glory of my Empire and of my Legion! I fight for the eternal satisfaction of victory! I fight simply because I wish to! I fight for the thrill of battle, for my Empire to prosper, and for the glory I have been denied on this day for far too long!"

"Such an empty life…to live like that." Gaara stared at Naruto as the sand around him began to coalesce, began to form into a familiar shape and form. "You live for others, live for this Empire you keep talking about. You don't know what it's like to have nothing." He took a stumbling step forward with his leg becoming further and further encased by black marked sand as he did so. "You don't know what my existence has been like."

"You wish to speak on your life?" Naruto paused as his hand settled at the blade at his side. "You wish for idle chatter instead of the glory of battle?" He could not help the low chuckle that escaped from him as he shook his head from side to side. "You are amusing if nothing else Gaara of the Sand so I shall give you such a thing."

"You'll die today regardless." Gaara's turned eyes devoid of drive, of desire, to Naruto as the sand that had gathered across his form began to fall to the ground, its markings gone just as swiftly as they had so suddenly arrived. "Your death will be the end. When I kill you I won't have to bother with it anymore. That thing's voice, the whispers filling my head, will be gone for good."

"Ah, you speak of the beast that lies within you." Naruto chuckled. He was mildly curious when his foe had turned to face him and now understood. The beast was what had fled from him. "You have not subjugated the creature, have you?"

In that moment something came to the dead eyes of Gaara.

"Subjugate?" The sand that had gathered around him fully broke away.

"Of course. A beast is a beast and it shall learn to fear the hand of his master." Naruto chuckled once more as crimson eyes stared into Gaara's own, as the power he had taken from the Kyubi no Kitsune so many feared was brought forth for a brief moment in a surge of wrath, in a show of the sheer power he held so easily in his hands. "I do not know of the others, of the rest of those who call themselves Jinchuriki, but I am no mere jailor of a Tailed Beast. I am a master over such a creature and of such power."

A hand rose and it was wreathed in crimson flames. A fist was all it took and it was dispersed into the wind. Such a feat drew the attention of Gaara in full.

"You have control…" Gaara stared at Naruto with a truly unmistakable awe in his eyes as he spoke. He seemed disbelieving that such a thing was possible in this world, that one could control such a monster sealed within his body. "How can you control such a monster…."

"I had no use for the beast itself but the power it held intrigued me. I faced the beast and I took what I desired from it." At the memory of his victory over the beast, the subjugation of it by his Legion, a true smile came to his face. "My Legion is without equal as always. The beast was no true challenge believe it or not. It was a creature of instinct, without true thought to any attack it unleashed beyond near mindless destruction. It succeeded for a moment of course, I perhaps even underestimated the power my Legion faced, but that was all."

His hand returned to his side and his smile became something cruel.

"Time was all it took in the end. Once my Centurions learned what the beast was capable of after the first battle it was simple enough. It took two of my Cohorts to subdue it, chain it, and leave its power mine to do with as I wished." Naruto lifted his hand from the hilt of his blade and crossed both over his armor.

"That isn't supposed to be possible. No one can control a Tailed Beast. No one can subjugate something so powerful." Gaara stared at Naruto like he was something he had never seen before, something that he had never thought to see in this world.

He was.

Naruto Uzumaki was not a Genin like so many others, he was not a Chunin like those that once taught him, he was not a simple Shinobi like those that battled across the village, and he was not something as simple as a Jinchuriki like eight others in the world could attest to.

He was much more than such simple titles. One could not describe who he was with something as simple as the name Uzumaki or the title of Jinchuriki or the rank of a Genin or Chunin. He was beyond such things and had been beyond such things since the day he had declared his might to the world.

He was Caesar of the Uzumaki Empire.

He was Caesar of the Orange Legion.

"All things a Caesar like I could desire lie within my reach Gaara of the Sand." Naruto let his hand fall to his blade once more. He did not draw it yet for he had no need to.

The Jinchuriki was different now.

The madness that had plagued his eyes, the bloodlust that had sang through the air from him, was gone.

'It seems I will not be fighting the same mad dog from before.' Naruto did not let irritation show as his red eyes quickly returned to blue once more. He had no use for the beast's power at the moment with his foe more interested in speaking to him than battling him like he had long desired. 'It seems the beast influenced him more than I once thought.'

"Caesar." Gaara spoke the title as if testing it. "You are a Caesar." His eyes searched his for something. "How does it change things? How does it make the two of us so different? How does that title give you control?"

"It gives me nothing!" Naruto threw his head back and truly laughed for the first time. It was no light chuckle, it was nothing born of brief humor. It was loud and it was booming. It was a sound that carried across the forest to all who inhabited it at the moment. He laughed for Gaara was simply able to humor him with such inane and misguided questions.

"I am a Caesar! All the world lies before me and I shall take it for my own to prove what a Caesar is to all who dare to doubt me!" Naruto threw his arms out at his side and took several steps forward with his grin growing wider and wider. "I shall prove to all what the title of Caesar means when I lay claim to all I see! I will show all what a Caesar truly is as I build my magnificent Uzumaki Empire until all look upon my banners and rejoice, as my glorious Orange Legion defeats all foes who think to stand against me and my right to rule!"

"Caesar…" Gaara spoke again but he was no longer testing the word to discover its meaning. He had it as he looked at Naruto once more.

A Caesar enjoyed what he saw. His opponent was at last ready it seemed. He grinned.

"I believe the time has come then!" Naruto's hand fell to his blade and now he stood mere feet from Gaara, the foe he had long awaited to do battle with. "The time for talk has past. It is time that we clash, that the world is at last given a glimpse of my power! It is time that we fight and see which of us shall emerge the victor, who shall be the one to find glory and who shall taste nothing but a bitter defeat!"

"There's no point to us speaking any further." Gaara's sand rose up behind him as geysers that formed into a growing pillar of sand. Clawed arms of sand ripped free and encircled Gaara a moment later but did not strike out at Naruto. Blades of sand erupted from the ground around him before receding, geysers of sand broke free of the ground and formed into large boulders that hung in the air awaiting his command. "My mind is clear for now."

"And it shall remain such." Naruto grinned at the new challenge. Gaara was not some mad dog, he was not driven solely by bloodlust anymore. "I see such potential in this battle now Gaara of the sand and I shall not let it be taken from me!"

He jumped back to create distance and at last he drew his blade free from his side, let it sing through the air as his shield came to his arm. His smile only widened when sand continued to erupt from around Gaara and take shape.

There would be no madness now.

He would have the battle he had been denied by the Ichibi and perhaps it would be greater with Gaara's mind clear of the whispers that had filled it, urged him to near insanity.

"This will be fun." Words would no longer be required.

Chakra ignited across his sword before Naruto slashed his now azure blade through the air.

A crescent of Chakra shot forward towards his foe and was consumed by a sudden wave of sand. It lowered and Gaara was moved back by a platform of sand at his feet just as Naruto's second airborne blade of Chakra would have cleaved through him.

He eagerly followed skyward after his foe with a mighty leap even as great stones of sand hurtled towards him.

The battle he had long awaited for had begun at last.

Lee exploded forward from where he stood just as Sasuke's transformed eyes widened at the sudden speed he had known of but never seen until now. He had perhaps a moment to prepare before a fist slammed into his armor, the unmistakable crack showing just how much damage Rock Lee had done in a single blow.

The Uchiha was thrown back from where he once stood and his back slammed into the tree behind him with enough force to send a crack up the trunk. His red eyes were open and in search of his foe only to find him out of sight until a kick from the side ripped him free of his resting place within the trunk.

Sasuke recovered before he could slam into another tree and turned in midair to land feet first instead as he finally caught sight of Lee.

He was already preparing himself for another attack and Sasuke took the moment to draw in a deep breath.

"Katon: Hosenka!" He spewed out six fireballs one after the other as he let himself fall from the tree and take off in a run even as he drew a number of shuriken to his hands, throwing them towards the sudden inferno that burst to life upon the impact of a few of the fireballs.

Lee had avoided the fireballs with ease and was likely rushing towards him again when he threw another set of shuriken, the wire strings on them drawing Lee's eye as they curved around him. They embedded themselves into a number of trees and formed a rough cage around the Uchiha, a circle that Lee didn't advance on just yet as he moved some distance away. He had seen the Uchiha's prowess with shuriken before and now merely waited to see what he had in mind with them this time.

He didn't have to wait long.

"Katon: Ryuka!" Sasuke drew the hand holding the wire strings up and unleashed an inferno that raced down each of them, that created an inferno around the two of them when they struck the trees.

Lee moved away from the sudden burst of heat in a burst of speed and closed the distance between him and the Uchiha in the blink of an eye. Sasuke's Sharingan actually tracked him this time and the Uchiha didn't waste time.

He breathed out a pair of small fireballs that swiftly made Lee prioritize dodging them than finishing his attack. He hit the ground and the moment he did he was gone from Sasuke's sight back the way he had approached for his attack.

The green clad Genin landed on a single knee on the ground outside of the burning cage around the Legate.

'I should have known he had a counter for my speed.' Lee marveled at the strategy he hadn't seen before his attack. 'He could not match my speed but he has given me only one way to attack. A single corridor in the flames will take me to him so he always knows where I am going to strike.' The fires that raced up the trees prevented him from approaching from above, the thick smoke already spewing forth limiting his visibility the higher he went and especially in the treetops. Flames still burned on the wire strings and formed an incomplete circle with only a single path through. His eyes glanced outside the cage. 'Perhaps it is best to run from this fight.'

Sasuke lifted his arm into the air and Lee's eyes immediately snapped to him.

"You think to run from this battle and on to Caesar's own no doubt." Sasuke had seen Lee's eyes glance to the side. The seal he bore on his arm burned red with Chakra for them both to see. "If you wish to face the blades of the Legionnaires of Caesar's magnificent Orange Legion, then run from me! I have no problem ordering their blades to cut you down for the audacity to interfere in Caesar's battle and to run from the one before you!"

"I must defeat you then." Lee's eyes zeroed in on Sasuke and the Legate found it in him to chuckle despite the pain caused by Lee's first blow.

"It is the only way to prevent such a thing Rock Lee." Sasuke lowered his arm and Lee darted forward once again.

The Uchiha was prepared for his blow this time and ducked under the kick he had seen coming before he threw the next set of shuriken in his hands forward. Lee had seen the glint of metal in his hand and was already moving away before they could leave the Uchiha's hands. They still soared into the smoke above their heads while the Uchiha was unable to avoid Lee's next blow and found himself thrown into a burning tree. The Genin was already moving to end the battle he had never wanted to take part in with a single blow to knock the Uchiha out cold.

Sasuke ducked to avoid the blow and threw himself into the Genin as he rose.

The two hit the ground.

Both had already separated by the time the dust had settled from their impact.

"You closed your eyes." Sasuke kept his eyes locked on Lee and Lee kept his eyes away from the Sharingan. "I should have expected as much from the student of Maito Gai. Making use of any Genjutsu is going to be more difficult than I imagined. Perhaps not even worth it against you."

"I urge you to stop this battle now Sasuke." Lee was taking the lull in their fight to once again try to bring this unnecessary battle to a halt. "We are comrades, Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf! We are not enemies!"

"You are my foe until you give up this idea of battling Caesar's foe." Sasuke didn't wait for Lee to begin the battle again, he capitalized on his hesitance to fight him.

He moved slowly, in comparison to Lee's own incredible speed, forward and Lee was already in the midst of dodging him as he closed the distance between the two. His Taijutsu was good, far better than most, but he was not on the level of one trained by a Taijutsu Master such as Maito Gai. He and Lee both knew his blows stood no chance of striking him but Lee still had to avoid them.

The Uchiha pressed the attack for this reason until Lee was forced to completely disengage from the clash lest he be forced into the flames that grew fiercer and fiercer around the two. He appeared outside the circle of flames.

Power washed over the two, power both had felt in the Chunin Exams earlier in the day. It could only mean that Naruto and Gaara had at last begun their battle.

And it meant that Lee had no choice.

'I cannot waste any more time with this battle.' Lee cursed what he had to do.

It had truly come to this it seemed.

"I will give you one last chance Sasuke!" Rock Lee called out to his fellow Shinobi for the last time, called to him to end this madness and allow him to pass onward to Gaara. "I do not wish to do this but you have left me no choice! Step aside before this goes on any further Sasuke!"

"What you ask of me is impossible. I am the Legate of Caesar's glorious Orange Legion. I do not retreat and I do not bow to others. If you wish to step past me, you will have to kill me." His Sharingan focused on the Shinobi in front of him even as he dropped into his own Taijutsu stance. "You should have gone back the way you came when I gave you the chance Rock Lee! I will have to carry you back to the village myself now."

"So be it." Rock Lee bowed his head.

'Forgive me for this Gai-sensei.' He sent one last silent apology to his mentor for what he would do. 'What I am to do now is against all you have taught me but I cannot let this stand! I cannot break my promise! I cannot cast aside my Nindo today or any day! I must battle my comrade today and I must use all my power! I must be the one to face Gaara! I must be the one to make him pay! I will accept any punishment you give me later but I cannot allow another to take this battle from me!'

Lee paid no mind to the single tear that leaked from his closed eyes. He knew what he had to do and would do it. He could not back down now, he could not turn and run now. He would see this through with all of his heart for anything else would violate his own personal creed.

He would not give up no matter what.

No matter what he had to do, he would be the one to battle Gaara.

He breathed in. He readied himself for what he had to do.

"First Gate, Gate of Opening…" It was foolhardy but he gave the Uchiha one last chance to stop this madness. He paused as he felt his strength swell, as he felt the gate ready to open. He knew already that the Uchiha would not take this last chance, that he would not allow him through while he still stood.

It was foolish to think so.

He truly had no choice.

"OPEN!"

* * *

AN: And this is it for what I have written at the moment. Any suggestions on how to wrap this up song and dance up?

Seriously. It would be appreciated. Like a lot.

Moving on, thanks as always for reading this story.

Peace.


	59. A Black End!

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter title: A Black End!

* * *

The defense of the gate undertaken by the Fifth Cohort was such a thing that it must have been deemed impenetrable by whatever force of the invaders remained. Over a thousand shields and blades awaited any foe who dared to attempt such a thing, would dare to seek such a glory as besting a Cohort of Caesar's glorious Orange Legion in combat.

Such an act was nothing short of utter lunacy, an act driven by nothing but a desire to face the end in combat with Caesar's glorious Legion.

Already the invaders had been repelled by their sudden drive through the village, through their relentless onslaught until they had reached the gates they now defended. Caesar would not need to worry on any foe breaching the village as long as the Fifth stood. If even a single Legionary still stood, the gates would not fall.

"Still nothing to report?" A place of command had been constructed in the latest lull of battle, the Centurions of the Fifth Cohort gathering to plan what they could. This defense of the village left their hands tied for the most part. Too few forces to commit to the wall could bring disgrace to Caesar if it was to be breached by another assault from the cowardly foe that hid from their blades even now. Yet to commit too little to any excursion into the dense woods before them would lead to a greater failure as the cretins within would pick them off, would wipe them out, and lead to another assault.

The Centurion of the Fifth Cohort was given no choice but to wait in such a situation, was forced to sit on his hands as if he was no better than a child. It infuriated him. It was enough to burn his patience to near nonexistence and boil his anger to the surface.

The action to take was so clear yet just out of reach. No matter how much his fury, his diminishing patience, demanded he act, he could do no such thing.

"All of our scouts have reported the same upon their return." The Second Century's Centurion did not hide his annoyance. "Our enemy has retreated deep into the forest for now, amassing within to prepare for another assault. They no doubt watch us now, gauging our defenses with these irregular attacks."

"Reports have come in from the Sixth Cohort, the invaders have been mostly pushed out the village. Pockets remain but they are of no interest to us, the Shinobi can deal with them easily enough. The Legate and Caesar himself remain in pursuit of Suna's mad dog from the last report I received." The Centurion of the Fifth Cohort stared at the map laid in front of him, of the stones that showed where he, the Sixth, and the rest of Caesar's glorious Legion were positioned across the village. He brought his finger to a single spot, a single stone in place there. "The Legate instructed five Centurions of the Praetorians to remain here at this shelter," His finger moved to where a number of stones rested. "the hospital is held under the command of the Praefectus Castorum and three Centurions," His finger moved again. "the stadium has been destroyed yet Saruboti battles the Kazekage still," His finger moved again to one of the largest stones on the map. "the Sixth awaits their foes just as we," His eyes lifted and met those of his Centurion. "and none of us have a single idea where the White Snake lies!"

His eyes flashed to red and his fangs were bared to his subordinates.

"We were blindsided by his summons once and now we risk he himself coming before us, slaughtering us, because we do not know where he is!" He waved his hand over the map, over the stones. "This is nothing but meaningless, a futile exercise, with such a foe unknown! The Toad Sage has vanished from our eyes, we stand no chance of finding him if we are to be attacked, and these Shinobi shall be just as useless as they were when this attack began when it resumes."

"Contact the Praetorians, your fellow Centurions, and any others you wish, learn what you can, and bring all you learn to me." He turned his eyes back to the map. "I shall depart to the front for now. If the cowards wish to attack, they shall no doubt do so now."

"Am I understood?" The only response he received were nods of resolve, of commitment. "Then you are dismissed." The Centurion of the Fifth received the salute of the Orange Legion from all the Centurions gathered before him, one of their fists clenched over their armored hearts. In their eyes he saw drive, saw commitment to see his orders carried out. He returned it before turning on his heel and leaving.

"Orochimaru won't be found unless he wants to be." The ANBU Black Ops had silently joined his side as he stepped out of the tent.

"If he is still in command of this invasion, he will be close." The Centurion of the Fifth did not bother with paying the masked ANBU much mind.

"Orochimaru has already left." The ANBU Black Ops looked out to the forest, beyond the lines of Legionnaires who awaited an attack with swords and shields at the ready. "He came here to battle the Third Hokage and the Kazekage took that opportunity from him. He won't bother with the invasion any longer."

"You speak as if you know the White Snake so well to predict his actions." The Centurion of the Fifth turned red eyes to the masked Shinobi at last. "Are the files of the village of such depth or are you different from the rest?"

Half a dozen ANBU Black Ops surrounded him by the time he had finished speaking. He did not spare them a glance. The blades of his Legionnaires waited for one to make a move before they would strike them all down and the masked Shinobi knew it.

To attack him, to draw their blades within his camp, would be naught but suicide.

"I had the misfortune of being one of his…students. That's all." The ANBU seemed unwilling to speak any further on the topic.

"You are the student of a traitor. That makes you either a fool or one yourself." The Centurion of the Fifth laughed as he spoke, his words lacking any serious bite. He didn't seem to care for anything the ANBU had to say in truth.

The ANBU didn't bother with responding to such words. His focus was immediately shifted to the forest.

Trees were falling and dust was rising, some of the animals seemed to have gone wild within from the roars that could reach all the way to the gates he defended. The Centurion of the Fifth lifted a finger to his ear.

"What is happening?" He waited for a moment but his scouts, none of the dozen he had sent out, responded. "All scouts report. Now."

He only received static on the channel. He changed the channel as he turned from walking to running towards his defensive line.

"All Centurions, gather the Legionnaires and prepare for another attack! The scouts have been killed or captured." The Centurion of the Fifth did not wait for a response. His hand dropped to his side and ripped his blade from his side just as he readied the shield that laid on his arm.

Even as he rushed forward he could hear shouts, hear the call to arms by the Centurions at the gates.

He quickened his pace.

His Centurions and Legionnaires hastened to join him.

Something roared.

Shouting.

Screaming.

Blood.

Everywhere.

Red.

Black.

Black and red. Black and red. Black and red.

"You are a fool." Hiruzen could find it in his heart to pity the man in front of him. He settled his staff on the ground at his side. Rasa could only manage a glare towards the aged Shinobi, a single direct blow from Gai's legendary strength enough to nearly take him out the fight.

He was lucky his Gold Dust had taken the brunt of the assault or he would no longer be standing.

The power of the Green Beast's Strong Fist Taijutsu was not understated in the slightest.

"Hmm, talking again Sarutobi?" A voice came from the staff a moment before it was consumed by smoke. "You've been doing a lot more talking than fighting."

"Orochimaru is no doubt planning something else." Hiruzen relaxed his stance, if only slightly. Gai arrived next to him, his skin still burning red hot from his use of the Eight Gates. "It'll be better to conserve my energy for that fight than spend too much on this."

For a Shinobi to drop his guard, even if only slightly, showed either the strength of his allies or his worry for the situation was no longer high. Both proved to do nothing but enrage the man who could call himself the Fourth Kazekage.

"Do you think me a joke Sarutobi?" Rasa attempted to stand but his battered body protested such an action. He returned to the knee he had fallen to as the Gold Dust around him writhed like an animal, seemed to snarl as it covered him in a sandstorm of tearing gales and ripping winds.

"I would not insult you with such a notion. I simply consider you less of a threat than him. That is all. He possesses far greater knowledge on this village, on my Shinobi, and on myself than you could ever gather with your own resources no matter how robust you believe them to be. And he is no fool." Hiruzen drew his thumb to his mouth and bit along a pale line of flesh. The Summoning Technique took no other action, save a surge of Chakra, and in the blink of an eye a small monkey appeared on his shoulder. It bowed to where the large monkey stood at Hiruzen's side. "My once student no doubt convinced you this was a wise decision, that the fall of Konohagakure would bring prosperity to Sunagakure, would prove to show the dominance of your village over all others, and whatever else he needed to tell you to listen to him. He is a snake and can defeat someone just as easily with words as he can with his skills as a Shinobi. This attack had little chance of success even with your plan for the Ichibi's Jinchuriki. Too much of your plan was obvious, the Chunin Exams too great of an opportunity for this village not to prepare for battle, and your Shinobi's infiltration into our borders was too clear with vigilant border guards."

With every word the elderly Shinobi spoke, with every flaw pointed out, Rasa's rage grew. His Gold Dust rolled and churned like the waves of a sea set into a frenzy by a storm. His eyes burned with rage at the dismissal of his plan, at the tone which the Third Hokage spoke to him with, that of a teacher lecturing a misinformed student.

A veteran calling a rookie out on a mistake.

An elder reprimanding a child.

The sheer fact that he was right, that hindsight proved it all to be a cruel reality, was what truly set his blood boiling.

"You were simply played Rasa, manipulated like a puppet." Hiruzen reached his hand up and the monkey on his shoulder gave him a scroll from his back.

He didn't bother to spare Rasa a glance as he turned his eyes down to read it.

The insult, the disregard of his strength, was enough to set him to action.

"I will not sit here and be mocked Sarutobi!" He snarled the words as he forced himself to rise, his Chakra gathered around him as he stretched his arm out to the elderly Shinobi and the sole Jonin that stood with him.

A torrent of Gold Dust erupted forward, ripped open the street as it burst free from the underground, and it seemed to transform into a gaping maw of razor sharp fangs with the sole goal of consuming the two before it, of utterly annihilating them in a blind fury.

"There's been enough of this foolishness today boy." Hiruzen didn't bother with taking his eyes off the scroll or close it.

"Fourth Gate, Gate of Pain, OPEN!"

Gai's next blow put the Kazekage on the ground and the Gold Dust went limp, fell to the ground as no better than dirt. Enma remained at Hiruzen's side, his arms crossed over his armor as he awaited the Hokage's next move. He did not need to concern himself with the boy anymore.

"Don't move." Gai did not draw back. He stood directly above the fallen Kazekage. He didn't take up a stance for it wouldn't matter. He would strike first no matter what Rasa tried. His next blow would either cripple or kill the Fourth Kazekage. It was simply a certainty now.

The Kazekage was simply outclassed by the Green Beast of the Hidden Leaf in terms of power, in speed. The man would not allow a single finger to twitch with the skills of the Kazekage so well known.

"Remain still and you will remain conscious."

Rasa did not move to attack. His head fell to the ground as his eyes closed.

Silently, the Fourth Kazekage surrendered. As much as it pained him, as much as it would drive him mad for many sleepless nights to come, as much as it drove him to insanity with the fury that ignited his blood, he could admit one simple truth: He could not best either of his foes.

For all his prowess, for all his might, he could not deny the truth.

He did not have the strength.

He was too weak.

A single eye merely stared when it opened, when who it belonged to had at last awoke.

'How could things get like this?' He didn't know how but he was conscious. He was partly amazed at the work the medics had done on him to even get him this far and couldn't help the shame he felt. How much time had they wasted on healing his wounds? How many had they let suffer just to get him awake?

Why did the waste their time on him?

He had failed after all. He hadn't even lasted past the initial attack and his battle in the stadium. He couldn't manage to beat Pakura, he couldn't join in repelling the invaders form his home, and he couldn't aid the Hokage.

And he had no idea where Sakura was. He didn't know where any of his team was.

'I failed as a sensei too.' He let out a tired breath from his lungs. 'I failed Sakura…I even failed Naruto.'

A thud broke him out of his thoughts.

"I'm not staying here any longer." A tired voice spoke from nearby.

"Your wound isn't healed yet. You need to rest." He knew that voice. He knew both voices.

"Not now. Not with people dying." The tired voice was persistent.

He heard a struggle, one party didn't want to hurt the other and one wanted to stop the other. He heard another thud and a groan, something was whispered, and cloth rustled as someone fell to the ground and another hastily followed.

"Please Hayate." The victor tried to dissuade the other with words now.

'Yugao's here for him. The Third must have let her take guard duty for the hospital. What a nice thing to do…' He hadn't moved since he had awoken but that was because he didn't have a reason then.

Now he did.

He had questions about the invasions and he needed them answered. He had to know what was happening, how the battle had turned out, how the Third was handling a foe as strong as the Kazekage. He couldn't just sit here anymore.

So he didn't.

He couldn't help the groan that came as he moved, the crack and pop of long stiff joints as he forced himself to rise. He couldn't waste his time with resting anymore.

He needed to fight.

The thin curtain around his bed was pulled away on one side.

He was on his feet by then.

"Yugao." He gave her a nod as he stumbled past. His feet guided him to where he knew the hospital kept extra gear. He couldn't exactly walk through whatever battlefields laid outside in the tattered rags of the Flak Jacket he had been carried here wearing. The extras wouldn't be perfect but they would make do until this invasion was over with.

But he needed something to go out and fight.

"What do you think you're doing?" Yugao had been frozen in shock long enough for him to drag on a spare set of armor. He was tightening the straps when she finally managed to rush up to him, try to dissuade him no doubt from joining the fighting.

"The village is still under attack." Kakashi gave her the obvious reason, the obvious rationale of his decision to leave. "I can't stay here when I can fight."

It took a moment longer than usual but lightning burst to life around his hand, the singing of a thousand birds filled the air. It just as quickly was gone as he cut the Chakra to the Chidori.

"You're in no state to fight!" Yugao may have been speaking to him, may have been speaking to Hayate. Both were in the same room now after all.

"I've healed enough." His body was no longer broken, he could manage his Chakra at this level, and a combination of Soldier Pills and battlefield remedies had helped him handle his exhaustion. His clash with Pakura was in the past now. He needed to head out, fight again in the present.

"If he's going….I'm going." Hayate tightened his hold on the blade Yugao couldn't stop him from wielding.

The purple haired ANBU had no words.

Kakashi was her superior in the end, one of the village's elite Jonin, and, even with the state he was in, he would be a game changer on the battlefield with simply his presence. He could order her to let him by if he wanted to and she couldn't stop him. He wouldn't but he could do it.

They both knew it.

It made arguing with him pointless.

"Kakashi, just think for a moment. What is going to happen if you die out there? You're not at your best, you're hardly able to stand no matter what you may say, and the invading force has been defeated. The Inuzuka, the Akimichi, the Nara, the Yamanaka, the Aburame, and more have joined the battle! The advance force the Third sent to the border will be back any second now! Jiraiya-sama is still in the village fighting! There is no reason for you to leave. You won't even have anyone to fight."

"I'm not too good for mop up." Kakashi shrugged his shoulders.

He was determined.

Yugao could not meet his eye.

"What about Sakura then?"

She had been ready for the sudden surge of Killing Intent, of raw fury, from the Jonin. She hardly remained standing, hardly held back the desire to curl into a ball and scream at the horror of a dozen different and equally as grisly deaths. Blades pierced her heart, slit her throat, a thousand birds screamed, fingers curled around her throat, and she just wanted to scream.

Hayate knew her well enough to at least brace himself. He still fell to the ground. He at least wasn't convulsing on the ground. He wasn't making his injuries any worse than they had gotten since he had decided to get out of bed.

"That's playing dirty Uzuki." Yugao flinched at the use of her last name. She had breached a boundary, crossed a line, and would no doubt face the consequences of so blatantly revealing her mission.

But she had to. She had to keep him here.

No one wanted Kakashi Hatake dead.

If he went out it was too high of a chance he wouldn't be coming back.

"J-Just think of her! If you go out there like this you'll just die. You'll die and leave her all alone, leave her with just Uzumaki and you've seen what he's done before! You're the only one who can keep him from doing worse to her than he already has. If you decide to leave then you'll just leave her with no one that can help her!" Yugao didn't know how she could still speak. But she could, she could somehow keep speaking no matter how amazing it was to her. The disgust she felt at herself, how desperate she was to keep him here, she was sure she would be tongue tied by now but she wasn't. "Team 7 will get a new sensei, one Uzumaki can bully and intimidate to do what he wants! She'll be trapped with the Uchiha and Uzumaki until she makes Chunin but she won't have you there to help her, to understand what she's going through! You saw her after the Chunin Exams, you saw how broken she was, and you'll leave her like that if you die!"

Silence.

That was all there was.

She couldn't, almost didn't want to, open her eyes. She couldn't look at him, see the rage, the fury, at her audacity to bring up his pupil. She couldn't stand to see the betrayal in his eye if she opened her eyes. She just needed him to stay here, stay far away from the battles until it was all over.

She couldn't bear to see her friend go out and die, she could take on any hatred, any resentment, he felt towards her if it meant her old captain stayed alive.

"I-If you won't stay because I ask…at least stay for her sake."

She screamed. There was nothing else for her to do but scream. The pain. This pain was completely unreal. It was something unimaginable. It was something she had never felt before. She had never expected it to hurt this much, she had never thought something so simple would be so painful. But it was absolute agony. It was enough to make her scream after all.

Her failure was her shame.

Pakura's broken body thrashed in her restraints, her screams could not be stopped, and her rage burned hot and fierce just like her Scorch Release.

"NO!" She could not tear apart her restraints as she could if she was stronger, if she hadn't been bested in combat by Kakashe Hatake and his strange beast. She could not incinerate the fools who dared to suggest such an insane thing as sedation. She could do nothing in her state but scream and struggle.

"I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU IF YOU TRY!" Her eyes were wide manic, and her body screamed at her to stop, to cease her struggles. Her pain grew worse but the agony such a physical state brought was nothing to the agony that filled her soul, that tore it apart into a thousand shreds. A single knife was nothing to the thousand that their words had thrust into her soul. "NOW LET ME GO!"

They refused of course. They had refused to release her since Chiyo had the gall to leave her here, to force her into a bed, to treat her as nothing but a child. She had ridiculed her with just her eyes, told her she was nothing with the weight of her silence disapproval.

"Lady Chiyo instructed us to keep you here Pakura-sama." One of the medics was making a plea with her and ventured too close.

Her bound hand lashed out, she forced her broken and beaten body to listen to her. She dragged the medic forward so she could stare into eyes filled with terror.

"I will not be sedated." Her voice was near a whisper as the heat in the tent grew. Her Chakra reserves were slowly recovering, enough for, limited, access to her fearsome Scorch Release once more. "I will not miss history being made!"

The captured medic could only nod as terror locked his throat, condemned him to silence. The rest, a total of three, remained away, glanced to the pair of Sunagakure ANBU stationed at the exit. They received no response from the masked Shinobi.

All they knew was that they were not allowed to leave until Pakura was asleep. That had been their single instruction from Chiyo before she had departed deeper into the main camp of the joint Sunagakure and Otogakure force. The four had no choice but to put the powerful Kunoichi asleep for transport far out of the Land of Fire, far away from Konohagakure.

The appearance of the blond boy and his army had changed too many things. Chiyo had taken one look at the massive force suddenly unleashed against them and had decided to abandon the invasion. She was well within her rights to issue such an order as acting Field Commander until the Kazekage returned from his clash with the leader of Konoha.

A clash they now knew he could not triumph in.

A puppet, tasked with observation of the battle, had seen him unable to battle the legendary Green Beast and the aged Shinobi at the same time. His guard, once thought impenetrable, was broken time and time again. His legendary techniques, the power able to best a beast as powerful as the Ichibi in the desert, were countered, broken, and little more than ineffective time and time again.

Sunagakure could not win.

But they could cut their losses.

They could survive.

"That girl is too young and too stubborn for her own good." Chiyo stared in the direction of the tent she had placed Pakura and her medics in. The acting Field Commander turned her eyes to her brother. "Has the withdrawal order been issued?"

"Fortunately without unneeded complications." Ebizo had recovered from the attack the transformed girl had unleashed on him. Her medical expertise had been vital to save his life before the damage could take it. He was still able to move but he could no longer fight. "There's been no word on what the forces from Otogakure will be doing while we withdraw. But I've heard they've been gathering for another assault on the main gate. It should have been launched by now."

Silence passed between the two siblings for a moment.

"The Kazekage, his children, and even the weapon are all missing or held by the enemy." Chiyo stared at the wall of the tent, stared at the map of the Hidden Leaf, at the state their forces had been rendered once the boy had unleashed an army of clones. "This invasion was a mistake from the beginning it seems."

"The Leaf wasn't as weak as we all thought." Ebizo rested in a chair, his sword laid across his lap for now. "The old dog even has bite it seems." A bitter smile managed to cross his face as he leaned back, winced at the sharp spike of pain he could have written off as nothing in his younger years. "Ah, I've gotten too old for war I imagine. I remember the times I could fight through things like this."

"That girl was one of Orochimaru's early experiments." Chiyo joined him in another chair in a moment. "She has one of his Juinjutsu."

"I thought as much." Ebizo cast his eyes to the blade in his lap. "I'm not surprised I couldn't kill her."

"Are you doubting your strength now brother?"

"I'm not a puppeteer like you sister. I've always doubted my strength."

Silence reigned in the tent once more.

It would not be broken by either of Suna's Honored Siblings.

"Time is such a cruel thing." The voice made both jump, both readied their preferred weapons with haste even if both knew it to be pointless. Even if age had not drained their strength, the Sannin was simply on another level than either could claim to have ever reached.

Orochimaru did not bother with humoring the pair of elderly Shinobi. He spared them both a glance while Kabuto let the pair of guards drop to the floor as he cut the flow of Chakra, both having been dead before the invasion began in full.

"What are you doing here Orochimaru?" Chiyo had disliked the White Snake since he had come to Rasa to suggest the idea of an invasion, had talked the Kazekage into the attack that had done nothing but serve as a black mark for the Hidden Sand.

"I have come to thank you of course. The information this attack has provided will prove invaluable in the future. I have learned so much from today it would be rude for me not to extend my gratitude to the two that made it all possible." The traitorous Sannin could not hide his amusement at the way the day had gone, at how everything had gone worse and worse for the invading force. "The Sand was useful for that if nothing else today."

"Rasa should have never listened to you." Ebizo let his blade fall to his side. He knew it would be pointless to clash with the Sannin as he was now. He was still weak from the girl's attack on him, the powerful scream he was still surprised he had survived.

"The blame of this attack can't possibly fall on myself alone Ebizo-san. You two are the ones who should have performed your role as advisors better." Orochimaru reached into his sleeve and withdrew a scroll. "But I must thank the two of you for this opportunity. I've ignored Naruto-kun for so long that even I didn't see his little show coming. This experience has been just so reinvigorating to me." He set it down on the table he had walked up to. "Take this as a token of my appreciation for your efforts."

"And what is this token?" Ebizo felt the Chakra Threads connect with his body, the surge of familiar Chakra that revitalized his own depleted reserves.

"It is nothing of value to myself but the Hidden Sand will likely want what's inside. Once Rasa-kun crawls back from his battle with sensei he can do what he likes with it." Orochimaru did not hide his amusement, did not bother with suppressing his laughter any longer.

It haunted the ears of both as he walked out the tent without a care in the world.

Perhaps he truly did not.

If anyone could claim such a thing, it would be the White Snake.

Away from the tent, a limit was shattered.

The Sharingan allowed the Legate to see the surge of power rush through Lee as the First Gate was opened. It was almost impossible to believe that such power rested inside anyone if they held the drive to find it, held the willpower to shatter through their own limits.

The Eight Gates were truly a formidable technique.

'So this is the power of the Eight Gates?' He was impressed at such a display of power.

He had not come into the Chunin Exams, or this battle, unprepared. The Legion had observed the training of all the participants enough for him to have at least a rudimentary understanding of the abilities of all of his possible foes. He had done further research himself and uncovered Maito Gai's many talents.

The man restricted himself solely to Taijutsu and still remained one of the strongest Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. He was a master and showed it with his unchallenged proficiency with the Eight Gates, his abilities so great that many believed he could unleash the awe inspiring power of even the fatal Gate of Death. His strength was enough to put him on par with the likes of Silver Fang and he was perhaps even stronger than Caesar's foe. He had taught his student well and he had expected the Eight Gates to be within Rock Lee's arsenal.

The boy had more than enough drive to unlock such formidable power and it came as no surprise that the Genin could manage a feat few Shinobi could. Most Shinobi simply did not possess the raw drive, the sheer determination, the pure willpower to undertake such a challenge and succeed. Rock Lee was someone who seemed to be, for lack of a better term, all guts. He faced any and all challenges with everything he had and would not stop until he overcame it and moved on to the next.

Most Shinobi didn't have the same fire no matter how much they preached the Will of Fire or the values of teamwork.

It seemed very likely that Rock Lee's Nindo was one of never giving up in the face of challenge and such drive had borne fruit.

"So this is it?" The power given with just the First Gate was enough to leave him nearly stunned. He had thought he was ready to battle Rock Lee but he was wrong. He had been informed of his speed and had still been taken by surprise, he had been told of the strength his blows packed and he had still been surprised by the Genin's initial attack. He had expected the Eight Gates and even now he stood in surprise.

"I will give you one last chance Sasuke!" Lee's eyes took on a new intensity as he stared down the Uchiha. "Step aside or I will attack!"

The Legate of the Orange Legion did not answer with words.

He drew his blade from his side and beckoned the Shinobi forward with his free hand.

'I have no choice then.'

"Second Gate, Gate of Healing, OPEN!"

Sasuke's eyes widened when Lee's power increased further and still the Genin did not attack him. Power flowed through him and it rushed to the next gate, the Third Gate, located at the spine if his research was correct.

'That's impossible! He shouldn't be able to do that!"

Power erupted from Lee as he let loose a shout and his flames could not withstand the sudden surge of Chakra ripping free of the Genin in front of the Uchiha. They were snuffed out when his own could no longer fuel them against the flood of Chakra. Even with that the Genin roared once again as the third limiter of his body was now the next opponent to the indomitable will that burned so hot in Rock Lee.

"To fight a comrade goes against all you ever taught me Gai-sensei but I must not break my promise! Even if I must break Sasuke's arms and legs to pass by then I shall! I will not let anyone stop me from facing Gaara! I will let nothing stop me because I promised my teammate I would be the one to make him pay! Because I swore I would never forsake any promise for it is against my Ninja Way!"

The third safeguard of the human body was broken with a shout.

"Third Gate, Gate of Life, OPEN!"

His skin turned blood red and the Uchiha would have been thrown away if not for his Chakra anchoring him to the ground.

"T-This power! It's unreal!" Sasuke shielded his eyes with his free arm as he struggled to not be thrown away by the next wave of power. "You've had this kind of power the entire time! How the fucking hell are you still a Genin!" Such a question was the only thing he could ask at a time like this.

Three. Rock Lee could open up nearly half of the Eight Gates, a technique few could even dream of gaining in their arsenal. He wasn't concerned as he unleashed the full power of his body, he had no issues with the sudden surge of power. It was impossible to imagine he didn't already have training with this technique to use it in combat like this.

Rock Lee had to have gained mastery of the Eight Gates up to the Gate of Life some time ago to not only believe he was able to take him down but to still face Gaara as well.

Or perhaps he could even go further and unlock the Fourth Gate.

"There is no going back now!" Lee crouched down and his white eyes focused on Sasuke. The Uchiha didn't know what to do as he locked eyes with his opponent. The insane power surging through the Genin's body at the moment was a natural counter to Genjutsu. It was too raw, too uncontrollable, to let him put him under with even something simple. He didn't have the time for something complex and didn't have the skills to try in a battle he needed his full focus to have a chance of victory. "I have given you more than enough chances to stop this fight!"

"And I've given you the same!" Sasuke allowed Chakra to ignite across his blade as he shouted back to Lee. "I will not step aside! As long as I draw breath I will stand against you! If you wish to battle Gaara, to steal Caesar's battle, then you will kill me to do so!"

The two would have begun their battle anew if not for one thing.

"What do you two think you're doing?" A number of Jonin and ANBU had arrived to their battleground, drawn to the forest by the malicious nature of the Chakra in the air, of Naruto ad Gaara's clash so close by. The massive release of power three of the Eight Gates had caused served as a beacon for even the less sensor inclined now surrounding the two.

A dark tendril connected their shadows to Shikaku Nara's own, the Hiden Technique of the Nara stopping either from moving in the slightest.

"It is none of your concern Nara." Sasuke didn't bother with struggling. Lee seemed just as restrained against the Jonin as he himself seemed to be.

His task for now was simply to delay any interruptions to Caesar's battle with the Jinchuriki. The method hardly mattered at this point.

"If you two haven't noticed, there's an invasion going on." Shikaku glanced between the two, the subtle signs from two ANBU Black Ops agents showing neither were under the control of the enemy. A number of Shinobi still stood at the ready to bring down either, several more apprehensive at the thought of dealing with Lee with the telltale signs of the Eight Gates being active.

Others, more recent promotions to Jonin, were only able to stare in dumb shock at the sight.

"I've been informed." Sasuke turned the red and black eyes of his Sharingan to Shikaku. In the blink of an eye coal black eyes stared into the Nara's. "But Caesar's Orange Legion has no doubt already driven the invaders from the village on his order. They are of little threat now."

"There's still the Jinchuriki to deal with." Shikaku glanced between the two Genin, both all but certain to be future Chunin once the invasion was dealt with, and then towards where Naruto battled Gaara farther into the forest.

"And Caesar battles the dog now. The rest of you would just interfere, prove nothing but distractions for Caesar's blade, should you move any further then here. None of you even stand with the power to battle the Jinchuriki. If you go, you will simply be throwing your lives away in a battle that does not need to be fought."

Silence. Silence was what came from his words.

A silence that proved they were true.

None could say that he was wrong, that he was speaking lies.

Many of those who stood before him knew what it was like to fight such a monster after all.

"Enough!" The Centurion at last seemed too angry to allow this standoff to continue.

His hand did not fall to draw the blade from side for his red eyes bored into the eyes of the Nara he had been dealing with. A raw spike of malice, of the sheer desire to kill and nothing but it, made the Genin drop back and the Praetorian he had ensnared was free.

"Stand down." The Centurion's order was the only thing that stopped him from drawing his blade on Ino. The wave of malice he had released had unbalanced everyone in the shelter, had sent them all either to the ground in a sudden panic or left them unsteady on their feet.

It was too familiar to many who stood inside.

It was a reminder of the darkest day in recent memory. A day filled with lost, with grief, with death, and with mindless destruction.

"This foolishness has gone on for long enough." The Praetorians moved swiftly at the opportunity to end this. The Shinobi that had been at the center of it all were entirely surrounded but they did not draw their arms nor restrain them. They were simply a presence to deter them. They would not until he gave the order to slaughter them. The Centurion focused on the blonde that had been responsible for this mess to begin with and strode up to her. She was like all the others, her body not hers to command with such a raw and primal fear chilling the blood in her veins. "You will have what you seek but no more."

He wrenched her upright. He took the earpiece back from her shaking hands and handed it to one of the Praetorians that had moved with him. He pressed down on his own.

"Where is the Legate? Ino Yamanaka will not cease her madness in the shelter unless she speaks with him." The Centurion was silent in the next moment and Ino, as her mind returned to her, could hear something that must have been a reply across the short distance between the two. "I see. That is expected."

It seemed the Centurion received the information he needed from whoever answered because he twisted an unseen dial on the side of the earpiece and it shut off.

"The Legate is occupied with the invasion. You will no longer trouble myself or those under my command." The Centurion released her and she nearly fell if not for Kiba and Choji both grabbing hold of her.

"Praetorians!" The Centurion was already striding away, ignoring the shaken and haunting stares sent towards him by Shinobi and civilians alike. "We are leaving! Now!"

"HOO!" There was an unmistakable eagerness at such an order, a certain hurry to follow it as Praetorian after Praetorian fell in rank outside the shelter. The Centurion responsible for the defense of the shelter did not hurry to leave, he had wordlessly gathered his two fellow Centurions to him and they looked at him in abject curiosity. They shared a few hushed words before he lifted the arm that held Naruto's seal.

The other two, formerly outside the shelter, appeared in a swirl of smoke.

The five conversed in hush tones with heads bowed, forming a rough circle that concealed their lips from sight. A number of Praetorians formed a small ring around them with their towering shields on their arms before them and pilum held upright in their other hand.

It lasted only minutes, just enough time for the gathered Praetorians to leave the shelter and gather outside.

The four Centurions silently offered the salute of the Orange Legion, their clenched fist brought over their armored heart, with unmistakably grave expressions. They almost seemed to dread what they had been instructed to do yet would carry out their duty. It was silently returned by the one who had gathered them all together.

It served as their dismissal as they silently stepped away.

They were Centurions after all. If they would not, who would?

The remaining Centurion turned and strode to where Hinata stood. The Praetorians that had formed a circle around him and the rest of the Centurions silently filed out with them. He was left entirely alone by the time he stopped in front of the Hyuga.

"I am afraid we much part ways here Hinata Hyuga for our duty guides us to another path." The Centurion bowed his head to her. "Once again I must ask you see to the recovery of your cousin. Caesar wishes to battle Neji once more, their clash unsullied." Red locked with lavender as he rose his head. "Caesar also wishes to speak with you on a matter of grave importance once this battle is finished."

The Centurion turned on his heel and left without another word spoken.

Outside the shelter he joined the four other Centurions.

Together, five pairs of red eyes stared at the Toad Sage.

"Hmm, so Naruto already knows what's going on?" Jiraiya wasn't smiling. Just like the Centurions before him, his expression was grim.

"Caesar does not know yet." The Centurion in charge of the other four remained while they departed to the gathered Praetorians, began issuing orders through their earpieces to their own Century. The Praetorians hurried to obey, to form ranks on the otherwise deserted street, and moved as instructed.

"He's occupied with the Jinchuriki then?" Jiraiya only received a nod from the Centurion. "Thank you."

The Sannin vanished with leaves and smoke the only things marking his presence and even then such things quickly scattered to the wind.

The Centurion had begun walking again long before it had settled. Only his Century remained, the other four already moved into position on streets off to either side.

"Form up!" His voice carried down the street to their ears with ease.

"HOO!"

The ranks parted to allow him through. At the front he was joined by the second in command of his Century, his Optio.

"Centurion." A clenched fist settled over the Optio's armored heart.

"Optio." He returned the salute rendered to him with his own. "It is time to leave."

"Of course." He stood aside and turned to the deserted street.

"Forward!" The Centurion did not walk. He, and his Century, thundered down the street at a sprint with blades drawn and shields at their sides.

"Forward!" "Forward!" "Forward!" "Forward!" Four voices echoed his command and followed only slightly behind.

"FORM RANKS NOW!" The three Centurions had dispersed quickly once all three had received the same message. They needed to act, they needed to do something that their minds could not supply. All they could think of was to gather their force, to bring them to order. It was what they had been trained to do after all. "ALL OF YOU!"

"HOO!" Their Legionnaires that had slowly grown relaxed rushed to obey in as orderly of a rush as possible at the shout. It was still near chaotic as hundreds rushed out in front of the hospital, as hundreds split into three groups, as hundreds awaited their command.

"We don't have time for this!" One Centurion drew his blade and pointed it down the street. "Praetorians will be there soon but not soon enough!"

"I understand that!" The Centurion placed in charge of the hospital's defense seemed to snarl more than speak. "We will gain **nothing** if we charge in blindly! The Fifth's already nearly fallen to those beasts and we will not be any better!"

"Than what will we do?" The last Centurion present at the hospital proved more level-headed than his brethren. If only just. "Regardless of how we do it, we need to move now."

"First, you three will remember who you are." The voice, exactly like their own, made them turn at one.

A Praetorian stood behind them, his armor denoting him not as a mere Centurion of the elite soldiers of Caesar but of one near equal to the Legate of Caesar's Orange Legion.

The eyes of the Praefectus Castrorum, commander of any who dared to call themselves Praetorians, bored into their own when they turned to face him. Each could merely look upon him in silence, their shock driving them mute. Not one of the three had expected to see he who commanded the entirety of the Praetorians before them.

All three had thought he had left to engage in one of the countless battles in the village, that they had been assigned to his post because he had grown bored of such a tedious assignment and desired something elsewhere.

They had been wrong.

He had clearly remained in the hospital, for whatever reason could not be discerned by the three.

Neither could the three Centurions care to bother with such thoughts.

"Compose yourselves or I'll have you killed where you stand." The words of the Praefectus Castrorum snapped them to attention, their fists coming to their armored hearts to render the salute of the Orange Legion. The Praefectus Castrorum returned it and his red eyes burned with wrath. "You three will call the rest of the Centurions of the First to these grounds, I will contact the Centurion of the First Cohort, and we shall plan how to reinforce the Fifth Cohort and, if necessary, the Sixth as well."

His eyes offered no argument. The three Centurions could only respond affirmatively, shame settling upon their shoulders at their loss of control, at their near panic, at the disgrace they had cast upon Caesar's glorious Orange Legion, upon his magnificent Uzumaki Empire. They could not help but bow their heads to the Praefectus Castrorum.

"We will work with all haste Praefectus Castrorum." The three would not let their thoughts be guided by panic, by this blind mindless fear, any longer. They were Centurions, they were those who Caesar had seen befitting of such a great honor as leading his Legionnaires into battle, of leading in his name. They would not betray such trust, they would not fail Caesar.

The only way to stop them would be their death, they were certain of it now.

"You two heard him, we have much work to do." The Centurion received twin nods before the three set themselves to work.

The First Cohort would not fail on this day or any day. They had simply needed a hard reminder of such a thing, of who they were, of who they fought for.

Caesar would not come to find the First Cohort to be lacking.

"What has happened?" Naruto stood with his Legate and his voice was one of both rage and curiosity. The two stood with the ring of Praetorians that had arrived to the clearing with Naruto. The Konoha Shinobi found themselves merely observers to the two as they spoke.

"The Fifth Cohort, by initial estimates, has suffered significant casualties in their defense of the gate. The survivors have rallied and sent requests for aid to all available forces." The Legate handed over the scroll hastily inked and sent to him by a courier.

"The Centurion of the Fifth still lives, does he not?" Naruto accepted the scroll but did not bother with reading it now. He didn't require much more than what his Legate had already spoken of.

"He leads the survivors. He says the seal no longer works, he cannot summon his reserves, he cannot even summon a Century." Sasuke looked to his own arm. "I have tested it since then and I am afraid he is correct. It is no doubt some technique of the Snake's to allow his forces to break through the Fifth's defense and into the village."

"That is troublesome." Naruto turned his eyes to his arm and they flashed red. Power engulfed him, spread down to his arm as a crimson shroud, and his hand was clenched in a fist. The shroud darkened and spread, death and bloodlust sung through the air, and yet still he pushed more and more.

He pushed yet the seal would not burn to life.

He frowned.

"This is unforeseen." Naruto did not dismiss the Chakra around his arm. He released his reign on it and allowed it to spread, to consume him in a bubbling crimson shroud as he let out a deep breath. "If this is to be the case, both of us shall have to take to the battlefield to end this."

"I must disagree Caesar." Burning red eyes locked on him, countless eyes that promised death, a weight upon his shoulders as if the air itself was something that promised nothing but the end of life, and the burning wrath of hatred consumed him in all but a moment with those words.

The Legate ignored the sudden ire of the Praetorians around him.

His attention was focused on how Caesar reacted with a curiosity in his eyes as he met his own.

"The seal of the Legion is damaged and it leaves even you at a disadvantage should the worse happen. This Legion, the Empire you have created, is nothing without you. You are Caesar above all else. We still do not exactly know what these creatures that have set upon the Fifth are, how many they are, and if they shall set upon the Sixth as well. Even if I know you will triumph over any foe, there is no telling what Orochimaru still has planned. The Third has battled the Kazekage ever since this invasion began, the Toad Sage is likely occupied in battle even as we speak, and all others who could contend against the Snake should he arise are not able. All besides you, Caesar." Sasuke turned his head in the rough direction of where the Fifth laid before turning back to Naruto. "I serve as your Legate for a reason Caesar. I will lead the counterattack on whatever creatures have attacked the Fifth with the Praetorians that stand with us here and the rest of what I can gather of the Legion's forces to destroy whatever Orochimaru has sent against us. And if the Snake should rear his head to strike, he shall find only death."

"You have an active imagination Legate, enough to craft an avid fantasy." Naruto laid a hand on the hilt of his blade. "I wonder if you can make it a reality." He threw his head back and laughed. "Yes, I see it now after such an invigorating tale as yours! Victory or death! You head off to one or the other but even I cannot know for sure which you will find! But this story must have an end for you have given it a stellar beginning."

"I tell no stories Caesar." Sasuke settled a hand on his blade. "Am I dismissed?"

"Not yet." Naruto lost his humor. He offered his hand to the Uchiha. "Do not fail me and do not fall." It was accepted.

"If I am to die, I shall do so standing then." Sasuke's words earned a light chuckle from Naruto before he pulled the Uchiha close.

"I'll hold you to that Sasuke."

"I expected nothing less Naruto."

The two pulled back.

"May you achieve glory Legate."

"I intend to Caesar."

"Then you are dismissed."

Naruto stepped away, his blue eyes turned to where the Shinobi of Konoha stood as simple observers. Sasuke waited for a moment before he turned at last to the three Centuries of Praetorians that stood at the ready in the forest.

"Praetorians!" His shout drew all eyes to him. His Sharingan swept over the Centuries gathered before him and saw anticipation in the eyes that could not decide between blue or red. No matter how well they hid it, no matter how disciplined the Praetorians stood, uncertainty still plagued them. They knew of the fate that had befallen their brothers in the Fifth, knew that victory was no longer certain with such a foe.

It would not be right to call them afraid. Fear was unable to take hold of their hearts for long before it was crushed, before it was broken before a bastion of loyalty, of devotion, to Caesar.

"You all no doubt know what has befallen the Fifth! Some savage beasts have tried to best them! They took heavy casualties but they still stand! Neither their shields nor their swords failed them this day! Every one of your brothers bathed themselves in the blood of those beasts! For every Legionary that fell, a dozen of the beasts joined him!" He drew his blade from his side in one hand and drew up his shield on his arm. "We, like others, shall reinforce them!"

"HOO!" The Praetorians answered him with their blades brought against the shields like thunder booming in the sky, with crimson eyes burning into his own, and their fangs bared as they readied for battle.

"ON ME!"

"HOO!"

"FORWARD!"

The Legate would be the one to lead them to the gates.

Caesar watched as three Centuries of Praetorians thundered past him into battle, bellowed a great roar through the forest as they sprinted off.

* * *

AN: This chapter. This chapter has nearly driven me mad. This entire part of the plot has driven me mad whether to include it, to ax it, to trash it, to just say fuck it and quit. I have no idea why because the idea was so simple in my head, made so much sense, that it should have been the easiest part to write but it wasn't.

It was extremely difficult.

So this chapter may not be the best. I wanted to touch on many things, didn't know where to split it, and decided to just roll with one large chapter and a second one that covers the rest.

Also I really hated just having this thing sit on my computer so I finished it.

At this point, I'm digging into the weeds...

So I'm going to be moving on from this. I'm going to hopefully learn from this and not let a plot drive me mad again. Or it'll happen again and history will repeat itself.

Who really knows?

Regardless, this should finish up the Chunin Exams/Konoha Crush arc. This and the next chapter which I have written.

After that I can hopefully advance the story, deal with all the fallout, and continue forward to the next arc I have in mind.

Thank you to all who reviewed this story, who Favorited and Followed this story, and endured the random hiatuses that have plagued it. I will hopefully be more consistent in the future and there won't be a span of months between updates. I'm probably going to try and write it to how I wrote it in the beginning and go from there, adjust my system as needed.


	60. Victory

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Chapter title: Victory

* * *

One thousand six hundred and forty-eight Legionnaires had been summoned from the Fifth Cohort in accordance with Caesar's plan. One thousand two hundred and twenty-three Legionnaires had been summoned from the Sixth Cohort for the same. They had each served as one of two great sweeping arms to cut down those who dared to stand against them, to declare themselves enemies of Caesar. The Fifth and the Sixth Cohorts had both emerged, the bulk of each of their forces summoned, at the stadium that no longer stood. Before the sudden blast that had obliterated it, it had been the point where Caesar had decided he could survey the battlefield the village would become in the invasion, would be where he could bear witness to the triumph of his magnificent Legion. It had been where he had decided all would hear him proclaim a grand victory, declare the glory of his Legion, serve as a monument to the power of the force he commanded.

The Sixth Cohort had swept through the village up to the monument that so proudly bore the faces of the Hokage past and present. As Caesar had planned, the Centurion of the Sixth split his forces and reinforced the two lesser gates that had been besieged. The invaders there had fallen to their blades, had scurried like the rats they were in the face of such a superior foe. The Sixth Cohort had taken over and provided the bulk of the defense, supplemented by Shinobi as more and more arrived as the interior of the village was secured. Their foe had challenged their strength twice more in full scale assaults and had failed both times. They had learned the errors of their ways when they had been repelled by the shields and blades of the Sixth's Legionnaires and the wrath of the Leaf's Shinobi. They had not pursued the folly in launching a third attempt. The Sixth had not launched a pursuit. Caesar's orders had been to hold the gates.

The Fifth Cohort had, in turn, swept down and away from the great monument. Caesar had given clear instruction to focus their efforts on securing the main gate to the village. It, and the wall on either side of it, had fallen under heavy assault by the Sand and Sound, by the creatures they had commanded to destroy the walls. The invaders, as Caesar predicted they would, had made plans for it to be their staging ground for further incursions into the village. They had dreamed of it being the lynchpin to the destruction of the Hidden Leaf. The Fifth had unleashed the cold wrath of their blades there, had used their shields to repel the returning blows from their surprised foes. In the fierce battle to follow they had taken heavy, if expected, casualties. The Centurion of the Fifth had strengthened the two Centuries he had planned to face the enemy in the fiercest of the fighting, two hundred turned to four hundred after he had ordered their Centurion of each to fight the battle at double strength. The Fifth had secured the main gate with their ferocity and the unexpected aid of the Toad Sage.

After the slaughter at the gate, the survivors had not launched another attempt. They had instead chosen to retreat with all haste from the blades of the Fifth Cohort of Caesar's Orange Legion. The defense the Centurion of the Fifth had ordered had been much the same as the one undertaken by the Sixth only on a larger scale. It had simply become an exercise in patience then.

At least they had believed such a thing.

As the invasion has reached its end, as the Kazekage found the Hokage to be too great a foe to surpass even with the passage of time, as the Leaf at last launched their counterattack and repelled the combined force of the Sand and Sound, as victory neared, Orochimaru had at last seen the chance to unleash his contribution to the invasion: monsters.

Of the one thousand six hundred and forty-eight Legionnaires that had been part of the initial attack by the Fifth Cohort, one thousand three hundred and twenty three stood at the ready around the main gate. Of the one thousand three hundred and twenty three Legionnaires, three hundred had assumed their rotation of the guard. Their Centurions had commanded a defensive line but nothing else. Their foes had not shown themselves and their scouts had reported nothing but trees, nothing but silence no army could enforce no matter their training, as their sole companion in the forest.

And then the monsters had emerged.

The monsters had slammed into their lines, had torn through their shields with claws and inhuman strength they had not expected. Their blades had cracked, had shattered, when hastily swung. Death fell upon them even as they answered in kind, as their Centurions urged them forward, as the Centurion of the Fifth hastened to the line with reinforcements.

Their foes bled back.

Their brothers bled red.

They had bathed themselves in black.

The monsters gorged themselves on red.

By the time they had repelled the inhuman horde unleashed against them, not even able to claim they slaughtered it to the last, six hundred and forty-nine Legionnaires of the Fifth Cohort still stood. They had fought hard, had refused to allow their line to break no matter the fury of the blow that fell upon them, had stood fast against things that did not have an equal. The creatures that had once been human had torn their shields apart with their strikes, had cackled and roared when their blades had answered their charge, and attacked with wounds no man should be able to fight through, Shinobi or not. But the Fifth had prevailed in the end, had banded together as they always would and baptized themselves in the ebony ichor that had spewed forth from their foes with no end.

They had forced fear on the beasts and driven them to retreat despite their losses, despite how heavy their shields became, despite how great a feat using their blades became. The Fifth had fought on and triumphed over their foes.

In the quiet that came after the attack, the Centurion of the Fifth had seen no choice but to call the rest of his forces to join the battle, to unleash all his strength upon this unnatural and monstrous foe he faced, and the seal had failed. The seal of his Centurions failed.

In the quiet that came, all who stood at the gate knew something had gone wrong, that something had driven their Centurion to something near despair.

He did not have long to dwell on such an astounding discovery.

Another wave, another mad horde, emerged from the forest. The Fifth hardly had the time to clean the blood from their blades, for the Centurions to organize their men and to begin to try and gather their fallen brothers, when they had been beset by a foe that could only be described as monstrous, as savage, as beasts which did not bother to masquerade as man any longer. They had met their roaring and snarling foes with a roar of their own. They had rushed to meet the beasts, to hold the gate, and answered the claws of their foes with blades burning red.

Six hundred and forty-nine became five hundred and three.

The Fifth had pushed back the second attack.

And then they had pushed back a third.

Their numbers became four hundred and thirteen.

And the horde had readied itself for a fourth charge, ushered forward by whoever could call themselves their master to shatter what was left of the Fifth or die trying.

The monsters had charged. Snarling and barking, screeching and howling, screaming and wailing as the mad dogs thundered onward to battle.

The Fifth had readied their black blades and braced themselves behind what remained of their shields.

It did not matter what it took. The men who called the Fifth their home, who called those with them their brothers, would not flee, refused to bend, refused to break. As long as one man who could dare to call himself a Legionnaire remained, the gates would not fall.

They had roared their challenge back to such noisy beasts.

The Legate had arrived with three Centuries of Caesar's Praetorians then. The horde had sought only a mad charge against the Fifth's battered and broken shields with roars when they had been beset by the sudden reinforcements. The Legate of the Orange Legion had lead his forces in from the side, carved a line between the beasts and the Fifth with his sudden attack. It had been a surprise for all, the Praetorians rushing through the village still so far away and any of the Legionnaires the Legion had to spare still on the way. The battle had been furious in those precious few moments, the broken ranks of the Fifth at last given a chance to rest, to regroup, to plan while the Praetorians held the line. The Legate and his force had been bathed in black blood by the time the horde had fallen, the remnants sent fleeing. But the Fifth had been given the chance to breath at last and that was enough.

The fifth charge came only moments after what was once the fourth horde laid upon the blackened ground.

The Praetorians had pushed forward, forced the beasts they fought away from the dead, away from the dying. The Legate had ordered to slaughter them to the last.

It was an order they had gladly followed.

Another force of Caesar's Praetorians would arrive during what would be the sixth time the horde had been unleashed by their master. It was one substantially larger, five Centuries, than that which the Legate had arrived with, three of Caesar's elites. Fury had burned in their red eyes when they had pushed past the dead, pride when they saw what their brothers had done to the rabid beasts that had set upon them.

Both had fueled their swings when they emerged from the village, had urged them to hasten their steps, had urged them to join their brothers and the Legate of Caesar's Orange Legion in battle with the creatures.

No sixth charge would come forth from a burning forest.

The Legate ordered the Praetorians, the arriving Centuries of Caesar's First Cohort, and any the Fifth could spare to burn the forest to the ground.

The Legate had taken command of the entirety of the First Cohort that had been on their way from outside the village and ordered them to hold their positions, to form a fresh defense lest they be besieged by another surprise force. The Legate had contacted the Centurion of the Sixth Cohort and ordered the same, new positions to better defend against any other surprises until fresh scouts could be sent out.

In the flurry of movement, the renewed attack by those of the Legion, the Legate taking command of the entirety of the Legion's forces to coordinate the vast defense of the village, the transfer of authority between the Fifth and the reinforcements consolidated into one force by the Legate, the task of gathering their fallen brothers from the black battlefield, none noticed him until he had nearly reached the gate.

None noticed that Caesar stood among them.

He had come to a stop before the gates and his eyes had taken in the sight before him.

"C-Caesar!" The Centurion of the Fifth staggered before him, refused to let his injuries, to let his exhaustion, lead him into darkness. He brought his fist to his blackened armor. Those that remained of the Fifth Cohort hastened to stand with him, stand with what remained of their arms before Caesar.

Caesar said nothing. He did nothing as he looked upon what remained of the Fifth Cohort of his Orange Legion. His face was one of stone, his eyes not burning red nor did his azure gaze hold a familiar intensity. His eyes merely looked upon what they surveyed.

The Centurion of the Fifth refused to allow his body to fall, refused to drop the salute of the Orange Legion until his Caesar acknowledged such a thing with his own. He did not turn his eyes away from Caesar, did not let the weight of his shame bring him any further disgrace.

"All you see before you is of my own making." At his side a fist covered in black drew forth crimson drops. "I-I have failed my Legionnaires, my Centurions, my Cohort, and you most of all Caesar. It is my shame that I could not hold the gate as you commanded of me, that I have tainted the glory of your Legion's triumph on this day!" He did not look away from Caesar's eyes, did not look away from what must be his silent judgement of his many failures. "I am not fit to command any force, be it 10 men or a thousand. I am not fit to command your Orange Legion, to serve your Uzumaki Empire any longer Caesar. I must ask of you to strip me of my command, to promote one more able than myself. Do not allow me to shame the Fifth Cohort, to shame your Orange Legion, to shame your Empire any longer."

At last, Caesar spoke.

"Don't dare to speak such bullshit!" Caesar's eyes were suddenly alit with fury, burned with crimson light as he roared such words. He took a step and his body trembled from his rage. "If anyone is deserving of shame it is myself!"

The shock of Caesar's words made the Centurion of the Fifth drop his arm.

He, like all who stood with him, all those who called themselves Legionnaires, could only stare.

Naruto did not stop. His rage burned red hot as he took step after agonizing step forward.

"Do not dare to claim what has happened here for it is not yours to claim. I am the one who has failed this day! I have been nothing but a blind fool this entire time! I have been obsessed with naught but a useless folly when I should have been guiding my own force!" He stopped before the Centurion of the Fifth and at last his tears fell. "While I pursued glory, those who I dared to call my brothers stood here dying! Those who I dared to call brothers laid down their lives all for my selfish pursuit!"

His eyes swept over the remains of his Fifth Cohort. A summoned force near two thousand Legionnaires had been cut down to little more than 400.

And it was all his doing.

Again.

He had forgotten the folly of his burgeoning First Cohort against Silver Fang and had begun to see his Legion as unbeatable, as a force without equal. He had thought his Legion was one that would find triumph without end, would find glory, and would not know the bitter taste of defeat.

He did not know defeat but what he felt now was worse.

Shame burned within his eyes, shame at what he had done, at what fate he had given to those so loyal, so devoted.

It was not possible that they could fail him, that they should feel such a vile shame as he. They had fought against impossible odds when the beasts had emerged, defeated such a monstrous foe that any other force would have assuredly fallen against. He had been the one to fail them.

"All day I have been driven by nothing but such a useless thing as personal glory. I have allowed that thing to consume me, to drive me to the insanity of my pursuit of the Sand's Jinchuriki, to drive me to do nothing but follow the beast even after I had sent it running. And I left my men, my brothers, those of my Orange Legion without guidance beyond such simple words. I commanded you to hold the gates and thought of nothing else, did not think of my foe as powerful, and you are the ones who have paid the price, the Legionnaires of the Fifth who have given their lives on this day have paid the price, and I bear nothing. This debt is mine to pay yet these animals did not spill my blood, did not tear my flesh."

"My Legion, my brothers, stood in my place."

His red eyes burned

"Do not dare to let your heart be burdened by this vile weight, this shame you tell me is yours. I will not have it for it is mine and mine alone!" Caesar's fury, his grief, fueled his words. "Victory or defeat, life or death, it all lies upon my shoulders and my shoulders alone! I am the one who issued the commands, I am the one who burdened you with command, and it is I who caused everything I see before me now!"

A crimson shroud enveloped him, the seal those who called themselves the Orange Legion bore, burned with Caesar's might. His gaze was cast not upon the Centurion of the Fifth but upon all of those of the Fifth Cohort.

"This is my duty as Caesar and I shall have none take it from me!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi had not come garbed for another battle. He was once again dressed in the pristine red and white robes of the Hokage, he once again bore the red and white hat he had placed on for the second time in his life. He was no longer a commander on the battlefield, he was no longer issuing orders. That time for such a thing had come and now it had passed.

The invasion was over and the attack on the thought to be weakened Hidden Leaf had proved unsuccessful. The village still stood and their foes had broken against the formidable might of the Leaf's Shinobi.

"These are all of the prisoners?" Ibiki was at his side in a moment as he came to a stop. Before him several dozen Sand and Sound Shinobi had been blindfolded and shackled together. No doubts others were being found around the village, all of them being moved to wherever the head of Torture and Interrogation wished for them to be taken.

"Some. We still have search parties looking for any deserters and any other infiltrators. They'll likely be busy for the next few days." Ibiki glanced away from where the fearful Shinobi rested. "Uzumaki refused to hand over any who surrendered to him."

Silence greeted the fearsome Shinobi's words.

"I will speak with him." Hiruzen at last spoke after a moment, the short time feeling almost as if it was an eternity to Morino.

"There's also something else you should know Lord Hokage." Ibiki didn't truly know what to say but pushed on. "Something's happened to Anko during the attack at the stadium, the Sand's Honored Siblings, Chiyo and Ebizo, attacked her and she…changed."

"I see." Hiruzen's tone was mournful, one of regret as he spoke. "She was an exceptional Shinobi despite what many thought of her."

"She's still alive Lord Hokage. She's been busy with Jiraiya since I managed to inform him about what happened." Ibiki clarified the details for the Hokage, the old man turning to him with unconcealed shock in his aged eyes. "Reports are still coming in from the hospital and scouts but the village didn't take as many casualties as we once believed we would. Shikaku is looking over all the reports and ANBU are heading out and reinforcing the border for the moment."

"Shikaku decided on a new tactic then?" Hiruzen didn't bother with the prisoners, his thoughts were running through too much too fast for him to care at the moment, and Ibiki silently ordered them away with a raise of his hand.

"He believes Orochimaru prepared for our tactics. He's changed them and wants to speak to you about revising our future strategies." Ibiki stayed at his side, Hiruzen did not pay much mind to the familiar ANBU Black Ops that joined his side or the Shinobi

"It is about that time." Hiruzen gave his consent with those words. "Have him speak to me once things slow down."

"Understood." Ibiki vanished from sight in the middle of his next step, recognizing his dismissal.

Hiruzen continued into the Hokage Building, moved past the Shinobi that were moving in and out, and headed to his office.

A half dozen Shadow Clones traveled around the village as he did so, surveying the damage done during the invasion, taking the reports from his field commanders that he could not, and dispelling in sequence as he walked through the halls. He had finished sorting through their memories by the time he opened the door.

"Danzo."

"Hiruzen."

Danzo Shimura had already taken a seat on the other side of the desk. Hiruzen took his time to settle into his seat, to take off the white and red hat that was the Hokage's privilege to wear, and meet the single visible eye of his old friend.

"I believe we both know what this conversation will be about."

"It could be nothing else."

"I believe we both know there is little we agree on."

"Just as I believe we both know that some things we must."

"Yes, there are somethings we must agree on and others we will always disagree on."

"The boy." Danzo did not need to speak a name.

"We have not once agreed on anything concerning him."

There were many things Hiruzen Sarutobi could say now, many things he could do.

The elderly Shinobi could say he had used his force to defend the village, he could say Naruto had shown his true colors, his true loyalty, to the village today, he could tell Danzo of how his forces had been a deciding factor in ending the battle so quickly.

He could tell Danzo to keep his agents away from Naruto as he had done in the past, he could demand Danzo cease bringing up the boy after so many past conversations ventured to his status as the Kyubi's Jinchuriki and his potential as a weapon of the village, he could even order that Danzo not come before him again.

He could say and do any number of things.

All of them would be easy, so easy.

But they would be wrong.

They would all prove to be nothing but disastrous for the future, for the village, for all who called Konohagakure home.

For perhaps even the entirety of the Shinobi world.

He was old.

He was tired.

But he could not let himself make another mistake. He could not afford to make another mistake.

So Hiruzen Sarutobi looked into the eye of Danzo Shimura. He looked into the eye of his longest friend, of the man who so readily took on the darkness of the Shinobi world, the man who served as the roots of the village, of its power. The man who hid so much from him, the man who at times seemed to undermine the very position of Hokage, the man who had brought down his ire more times than he cared to count as they both served the village in their own way.

There was no joy in his eye, there was no hidden triumph. He did not delight in what must be done, he did not delight in the pain he had caused his oldest friend.

He, like Hiruzen, like so many others that had come before them and would come after them, merely wished for Konoha to stay standing.

It was for that reason that he could do this.

"Perhaps we can start today."

* * *

AN: Alright. That's it. The invasion is over with and I'll continue this thing now and move on to the next arc/whatever they call these things. I will freely admit, things were skipped over, things were ignored, but I will hopefully be mentioning them later. I still have a general plan for this story and I (for the most part) know what I need to talk about elsewhere still.

I am also just so happy to be finished with this invasion.

So, random question, who reading this likes Tsunade?

Thanks for reading.

Review if you feel like it.

Peace.


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